K-5 (Book 1)
by Leslhowe1226
Summary: When five mages emerge into the world of New York, they discover big threats that only they themselves can solve with their magical martial arts.
1. ChapterOne

In New York City, there are several huge buildings and apartments with dark, empty streets that over thirty million human beings were living, working, and walking on their own business and life. The city maybe entertaining and busy, but it also has a much darker side that involved serious crimes for the cops to react.

Above the city was a cloaking metallic grey futuristic airship with several glowing white zigzag lines flying high across the sky as it parked itself above the bright illuminating city. It was called the Crete Fortress. Inside the airship was furnished with a kitchen, living room, individual bedrooms, lab workshop, dojo, and meditation room.

In the dojo, the whole place was completely done in an ancient Japanese decor. It has a large healthy crystalline tree in the center of the bamboo floor and a bedroom located on the other side of the tree. Four teenage girls sat on the floor in their mediated position as they are prepared to start their training in their mystic training outfits: the oldest sister wore a blue skintight leotard with emerald green striped cuffs and a dark blue hood; the second oldest sister wore a red skintight leotard with dark green striped cuffs and a dark red hood; the second youngest sister wore a purple skintight leotard with brownish green striped cuffs and a dark purple hood; the youngest sister wore an orange skintight leotard with light green striped cuffs and a dark orange hood. It was the oldest sister Kirana against the youngest sister Talia and the second oldest sister Camilla against the second youngest sister Ariana.

The girls faced each other. Kirana and Talia jumped to their feet and both summoning out their elemental power. Talia narrowed her eyes as she put her hands above her head, already summoning the wind around her. Kirana gritted her teeth and put her hands in front of her while streams of water were surrounding her. Kirana made the first move and darted forward with a yell.

"Oh, yeah!" Talia yelled, charging towards her oldest sister and delivered a blast of wind at Kirana. "Talia is on the move!"

Kirana raised up a water shield in front of herself and successfully stopped the wind blast. She then created four arrows of water and fired them at Talia, who quickly smiled and jumped in the air to dodge the water arrows as she spun herself so fast to create a strong tornado. Kirana darted forward and released a swing of water-shaped blades as quick as lightning, which Talia immediately threw out a large ball of wind to freeze the attack. Talia started to run around the dojo in order to confuse Kirana.

"Too slow! Denied!" Talia smiled cockily with a confidence smirk on her face as she continued to dodge Kirana's water-shaped blades and held her hands engulfed with air energy as an offense shield. "How could you fight your opponent who is quick on their feet?"

Without saying a word, Kirana stood still just the right time to concentrate and predict her youngest sister's strategy. If she can just hit Talia at the very point, she'll beat her. With a smirk, the thin air created a puddle of water and engulfed itself onto Kirana's legs like armor. Talia ran forward to attack with a wind blast. At the last moment, just when Talia was going to reach her, Kirana swiftly ran up to raise her left knee into Talia's stomach, making her youngest sister falling to the ground in pain.

"Like that?" Kirana answered calmly at her downed sister.

"Good move, Kirana." Talia wheezed as she held a thumb-up.

Ariana was surrounded by the green petals that looked like snakes that are ready to obey every command the purple mage kunoichi would gave them as she stared threateningly at Camilla's face. Camilla, on the other hand, just watched her sister with a bored look on her and now she tilted her head from side to side to crack her neck. She hadn't powered up her flames yet, which was unusual for her.

"Alright, Ariana." Camilla said. "Just stand down and no one gets hurt."

"Come on!" Ariana replied as she rolled her eyes. "You always say that and the next thing you know, you HURT me and my plants!"

"Yeah…well…this time I won't." Camilla countered defensively with a shrug.

"Yeah right." Ariana snapped.

Ariana moved her hands swiftly with her palm pointing at Camilla, causing her plants to suddenly grow huge and aimed for the fire mage kunoichi. But Camilla dodged easily with a smile on her face when she kept dodging each plant at her sight over and over again. In a flash, Camilla gave her younger sister a sly grin and burned the plant into ashes with her palms engulfed in flames that caused Ariana to gasp in shock and horror.

"Should've stand down?" Ariana asked shockingly.

"Should've just stand down." Camilla answered slyly.

Camilla snapped her fingers. Suddenly, the floors beneath Ariana's feet became heated, making the purple mage kunoichi jump in the place.

"Okay, okay!" Ariana pleaded, jumping out of the floor and rubbed her feet. "I'm out! I'm out!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Camilla saw Kirana stepping forward and stepped away from Ariana to face her older sister. Ariana crawled away to kneel next to Talia, who stuck her tongue out at her. Kirana and Camilla kneel down on one knee and faced each other for preparation. Kirana and Camilla always had a strong sense of sibling rivalry on each other, constantly pushing each other to prove who's better and stronger. Another figure entered the room and the sisters looked at their younger brother, Ezra. He wore a teal long sleeved shirt with sea green cuffs, black sweatpants with a turquoise line on the side, and a dark teal hood. The mage boy got prepared and smiled.

"Kōun." Kirana said.

"You too." Camilla retorted with a shrug. "Don't be afraid, Ezra. We'll go easy on you." Camilla teased.

"Like that'll ever happen." Ezra said.

Getting to her feet, Kirana engulfed her hands in water power as Camilla did the same with her fire power. Ezra prepared to use his lighting powers to stike at his two eldest sisters but they backed away before the lightning could hit them.

Instantly, Kirana stood on her left leg and kicked Camilla rapidly with her right water-powered leg extended out with incredible speed, but Camilla quickly blocked with her flaming fists and dodged the second round of water kicks before jumping behind her older sister. Ezra got started on his electrical powers that he kept blasting at his two older sisters. Kirana turned around with her eyes narrowing dangerously. Camilla charged forward with a yell and hit Kirana in the face with the punch of her fists. On the ground, Kirana shot out a strong water ball at her younger sister that made Camilla crashing down to the floor. Slowly getting to his feet, Kirana turned and aimed another water ball at Camilla. But Camilla jumped back to her feet and managed to block the attack with a fire shield as Kirana sent out another water ball at Camilla from behind. Kirana managed to get a lock on the fire shield and swung it from Camilla's hands, but Ariana and Talia didn't even flinch as the shield hit the wall behind them. As the two continued to charge and clash each other, Camilla unleashed a sudden barrage of fire bolts in low and high directions to send her older sister crash to the wall. Ezra kept attacking with his lightning powers but Camilla caught a perfect time to knock Ezra to the tree, ending the match with Camilla the winner.

Groaning painfully, Kirana and Ezra looked up to see Camilla standing over her.

"I win." Camilla said with a smug smile.

"Yamè!" A serene voice commanded.

Suddenly, the siblings quickly turned to watch the door to their mother's room slid open. Her name is Shiroibara Sage. She was tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and dark brown eyes. She has a white star-shaped birthmark in the navel area. She also wore a white kimono with wide, bell-shaped sleeves and her clan's symbol are printed on the front and back of her dress. Her long forgotten clan are known for their mystical martial arts. Sage was strict but also the kindest, bravest and wisest woman known to the four young mage kunoichis and the young mage ninja.

Kirana was the oldest sister and the water mage kunoichi. She has a curvaceous body with a tall, slender built. She has long black hair that stops past her lower back with two blue sidetails and sapphire blue eyes. She has a blue spade-shaped birthmark on her chest that can only manifest when needed. She was the most serious and disciplined mage who acts as a balanced kunoichi of strength, speed, and intelligence. Despite being the oldest, her height ranges between Camilla and Ariana's height.

Camilla was the second oldest sister and the fire mage kunoichi. She has an athletic figure with sturdier build and broad muscles on her shoulders. She has long red hair tied into a ponytail that has a large dark red band with two dark red sidetails and emerald green eyes. She has two red heart-shaped birthmarks on her palms that can only manifest when needed. She was brawny and aggressive with a short temper and sarcastic attitude who acts as the strongest kunoichi of strength. She has a four star-shaped pierced earrings on both ears and a small dark red skull shaped scar on her right cheek. She is the third tallest and shorter than Kirana and Ariana.

Ariana was the second youngest sister and the earth mage kunoichi. She has a thin body stature with an extremely slender figure. She has brown shoulder length hair with two purple sidetails and brownish red eyes. She has a purple clover-shaped birthmark on her forehead that can only manifest when needed. She was quiet and inventive genius for mechanic and technology with her quiet and shy nature that comes across as the strong silent girl who acts as the smart kunoichi of intelligence. Despite being a mage with magical powers, she only used her magic for her inventions and science. She is the tallest of her three sisters.

Talia was the youngest sister and the air mage kunoichi. She has a slender figure with a slightly more pudgy body. She has blonde midback-length hair tied up in pigtails clipped down by dark orange star-shaped hair clips with two orange sidetails and baby blue eyes. She has an orange heart-shaped birthmark in her bellybutton that can only manifest when needed. She was the most immature and social mage with a wild, tomboyish attitude. As the best cook in the kitchen, she loves to cook amazing food for her family. She is shorter than her sisters and considerably shorter than Ariana but she is taller than Ezra.

Ezra was the youngest sibling and the lightning mage ninja. He has a slender male figure, five feet tall, fair skin, messy white hair, sea blue eyes, a slight gap between his teeth. He has a turquoise teardrop birthmark on his back that can only manifest when needed. He is youngest of the mages with a creative and caring personality. Despite being the youngest, Ezra tends to do normal boy things in the fortress. He is the shortest of his older sisters and the only little brother in the group.

Sage quietly walked into the dojo. The siblings moved to the middle of the dojo and knelt down in their mediated position with honor and respect.

"You all have proven your skills very well." Sage said in a congratulate manner as she walked past her five children.

"But I did better than them." Camilla bragged smugly.

Ariana and Talia rolled their eyes while Kirana and Ezra looked at Camilla with a raised eyebrow.

"This is self-improvement training, Camilla." Sage stated as she walked behind her children. "It's never about winning and losing."

"I know, mother." Camilla said with a nod. She crossed her arms over her chest confidently. "But they lost and I won. So, win-win for me."

Sage held the pressure point on Camilla's neck, causing her daughter to cry out in pain.

"But the most important thing is that we all did our best. Great job, everyone!" Camilla said quickly.

Sage released her daughter and Camilla fell forward to the floor while breathing heavily. Sage chuckled with a tiny smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Sage and her children sat around the kitchen table as they are eating chicken roman soup while Talia was stirring the pot with her usual cheerful smile. For her creatively, Talia became an excellent chief when it comes to the kitchen.

"Does every one want some more soup?" Talia asked. "Anybody?"

"Nope." Kirana said.

"Not really." Camilla replied.

"All yours." Ariana responded.

"Completely full." Ezra says.

"Okay, because I've made a cake for all of us." Talia smiled brightly as she pulled out a vanilla cake out of the fridge.

"Whoa." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra gushed as they leaned forward and stared at it in awe.

"It's amazing." Ariana smiled in amazement.

"Made of vanilla." Camilla said as her index finger took a little amount of frosting and licks it. "Nice."

"Delicious." Kirana smiled as she took a piece of the cake.

"And for you, little bro... I've made you a cupcake." Talia smiled as she presented him a cupcake with a birthday candle on it.

"Thanks Talia." Ezra said as he enjoys his cupcake.

"Well, Seijin no Hi!" Talia said.

"Seijin no Hi!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra cheered.

"Yes, the day we all became a great family for fifteen years." Sage smiled happily. "And the day that we have trained as mage ninjas."

"Can you tell us a story, mother?" Talia asked as she sat next to her mother.

"But I've told you that story many times before." Sage replied gently.

"Please? Please?" Talia begged, giving her mother the pleading eyes. "Pleeeeaaassseee!"

Camilla quickly launched herself over the table and clapped a hand over Talia's mouth to silence her youngest sister.

"Please." Camilla said. "It's only the way to get Talia to shut up."

"Very well." Sage said with a nod.

As Sage's tale begin, it all started when she was walking out of the training room at her clan until she spotted a group of strange men surrounding the man named Caesar as they battled all of them in an engage combat. After the battle was over, Sage and Caesar became attracted to each other, falling in love at first sight.

Some years later, Sage heard a baby's cry from an alleyway. She went over and found a newborn baby boy in a box wrapped in a teal blanket. The infant boy stops crying and smiled when he saw Sage. Sage smiles warmly before taking the baby in her arms and walks back to the Fortress.

"And that's how we became a one great family." Sage said, holding the family picture that was kept all those years ago. "That love between me and your father gave birth to you all. And a new bundle came into our family." Sage smiles at Ezra, who smiles warmly back.

"Good memories." Talia said, grabbing the family picture and hugged it. She went over to Ezra and hugged him.

"Well, mother, now that we're officially fifteen and Ezra is eleven. We are finally ready to go outside the world, right?" Kirana asked hopefully.

Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Ariana nodded eagerly for their oldest sister's hopeful words.

"Yes." Sage said.

"Yeah! Alright! Finally! Perfect! Yes!" Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, Camilla, and Talia cheered happily.

"And no." Sage added.

"Naw! No way! Darn it! No fair! I hate when she does that." Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, Talia, and Camilla grumbled sadly.

"True, you all have become very powerful, but you're still young." Sage admitted. "You all lack the maturity to use your skills wisely. You all aren't ready to face the danger of what's out there."

"Look, mother. We know you're trying to protect us, but we can't spend out whole lives living and hiding in here." Kirana explained. "We always want to meet new people, go to school, and explore the outside. But if we keep staying in this flying fortress here, how are we supposed to know what life is really like?"

Sage closed her eyes and used her future sight to predict the positive result for her children if they explore the outside world. When she slowly opened her eyes, her children stared right in front of her and looked her with big, pleading eyes. Sage sighed reluctantly as her decision was made.

"You made go…tomorrow." Sage said with a bit hesitation. "I'll assign you to go to high school on the first day in the morning."

The K-5 released out cheers of triumph.

"But you must remember that Ezra has skipped a few grades for his intelligence. Which means you must keep an eye on him." Sage said.

"Don't worry, Mother. He's safe with us. High five, y'all!" Talia hollered sassily.

With that, the siblings put their hands together as high fives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Kirana was sitting on the coach watching her favorite TV sci-fi show called Battle Matrix in the living room as her eyes are completely focused was on the TV screen. Despite being a trained mage kunoichi, Kirana was a huge fan of science fiction and Captain Mila was the leader of the intergalactic team and her favorite hero, hoping that someday she'll be just like her as a leader. Corporal Camille was the weapon expert, Sergeant Morgana was the head of communications in the ship, and Private Tenaya was the youngest member of the team. On TV, Sergeant Mila was commanding her teammates to carry out her orders without question.

"I still fail to see how this show is so cool." Camilla said, sitting on the couch next to her older sister while looking up from her comic book.

"Battlestar Matrix is an amazing show and Captain Mila is my favorite character." Kirana said determinedly. "Her leadership reminds me of our father and someday I'm gonna be a great leader like him."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Camilla said with a smirk as she went back to her comic book.

Kirana rolled her eyes at Camilla's words and turned back to see Ariana, Talia, and Ezra ran into the living room. Ariana and Talia stood in front of their older sisters as they both performed rock star guitar poses.

"It's go time, guys!" Talia cheered excitedly.

After channeling their magic within them, the siblings transformed their training outfits into their school outfits in a flashy manner: Ariana wore a light grey cross back tank top under a purple cardigan sweater, black skinny jeans, and purple sneakers. Camilla wore a sleeveless red tank top under a black leather biker jacket, black ripped jeans, red high-top sneakers, and two rhinestone spiked bracelets on each wrist. Ezra wore a teal shirt with a navy blue jacket, tan shorts that reached to his knees, and white sneakers. Kirana wore a blue asymmetrical one-shoulder shirt over a long white strappy tank top, black jeans, and blue caty wedges. And Talia wore an orange tank top under a white leather biker jacket, black skinny jeans, and orange high top sneakers.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra stood in a firm line in front of their mother, who was pacing in front of them as if her children are lined soldiers.

"You're ready to experience the world you might embrace." Sage said. "But I only have two rules: don't expose your powers towards humans and stay in the shadows at all times for danger."

"Yes, mother." The siblings said with a nod.

"And good luck, my children." Sage sighed with a tiny smile.

With that, the siblings rushed towards the center of the living room and huddled together excitedly. They held out their hands into each other's and closed their eyes while casting a teleportation spell, moving instantaneously from the Crete Fortress to Roosevelt High School.

All Sage can do is sigh in worry for her five children's safety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the spell made the siblings land on the ground in front of the school building without being spotted, Kirana pushed the doors wide open and walked inside with her siblings following behind her. They all stood awestruck as they could see lockers and classroom doors everywhere in one single hallway. The school seemed to be a three floor building from the outside, but it has a brown exterior and yellow hallways with green lockers in the inside.

"It's so cool." Talia whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 walked through the plain hallways where all students were talking and finding book through their lockers. They went to find their locker number and it turned out to their locker are close to each other. After organizing their stuff in the lockers, the siblings moved ahead away from the lockers and went out to search their classes. But Kirana couldn't help but feeling excited on the first time.

"This school is so amazing with the rooms or the gym." Kirana said excitedly as she looked around the corner of the school. "I don't understand why mother doesn't want us to come out here."

"Whoa, even the school has so many different computers." Ariana gasped as she suddenly pressed her hands against the window door to see lined desks of computers with one eye. "Those laptops are the next generation of cadmium processor with quantum encryption."

"Wow, Ariana. Even you would know such a thing." Camilla said sarcastically.

"They're so beautiful." Ariana said excitedly, looking back at the laptops and ignoring her older sister.

Ezra looked at the posters of school clothes on the walls.

"Wow. Look at those jackets." Ezra said in awe. "Too bad Mom can't make me wear them."

"Oh my. This school has all kinds of students." Talia said as she pointed her finger at the stereotype high school students. "The goths, the jocks, the nerds."

"Let's go, Talia." Camilla said, grabbing her younger sister by the shirt and pulling her from the group of students.

"Bikers!" Talia wailed as her older sister was pulling her away to where the siblings are regrouping.

"So, how are we gonna find out classes right here?" Ariana asked Kirana.

"Yo, O'Neil!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra suddenly found a school jock talking harshly with a girl. She has red hair tied up in a ponytail with a yellow headband, blue eyes with freckles on her face, and wore a yellow and white shirt with a 5 on it with a black t-shirt under it that has black sleeves and a black choker, blue jean-shorts with leggings under them, blue and yellow socks, and black boots. They know that they aren't allowed to expose their powers, but they can't watch some big guy bothering the little girl.

"What's the matter, April?" The jock said with a grin. "You can't escape me this time until you let me copy your homework now."

"Hey!" Camilla shouted as she walked up to the jock and April. "Leave her alone! She doesn't want you to bother her!"

"Says who?" The jock growled as he turned to glare at Camilla.

"Says me!" Camilla snapped.

Camilla swiftly moved in front of the jock and flipped upside down to rapidly rotate her body, attacking him with her boots that send the jock crashing to the ground. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra noticed that all of the students are watching the fight as well as spotting the teachers heading the way to the fight. They quickly grabbed each other's hands and muttered a spell under their breath that only made the fight as an illusion for them and April to see. Once the jock got up and ran to deliver a punch with his fists, Camilla quickly grabbed the jock from the air by the leg to spin him rapidly and hurdled him towards the wall above the door that knocked him unconscious. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra secretly released their hands that worn off the spell.

"Are you okay?" Ariana asked the girl.

"Yeah, thanks to that girl." The girl replied with a smile. "I'm April O'Neil."

"I'm Shiroibara Ariana. I'm from Japan." Ariana said as she pointed her thumb to her three sisters and younger brother with April. "And these are my sisters: Kirana, Camilla, and Talia. And this is my brother; Ezra."

"Do you have any idea where are we supposed to go?" Talia asked as she stood in front of April with a bright smile.

"Your classes, of course." April replied as she read the siblings' class schedules. "And since you guys are new here, only Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra have the same classes downstairs while you and Ariana have the same classes upstairs like my classes. So, Ariana and Talia will follow me to their classes."

"Thanks." Kirana smiled.

Ariana and Talia followed April while Lee and Ella turned the other way to find the classes.

"I have to admit. Fighting bullies are kinda fun." Camilla laughed.

"But we can't draw too much attention around here." Kirana said as she looked at Camilla with a firm face. "Let's get to class."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After two classes later, the siblings sat at the empty table near the window on the right side of the cafeteria. Each of them were staring the same food on their trays: chocolate milk, applesauce, kiwi slices, brownie, and chicken sliders.

"Should we eat this?" Ezra asked.

"How are we supposed to know if these could be rotten?" Kirana asked cautiously.

"Well, they are food." Ariana said as she stared longingly at her tray.

"Not like any food we've ever ate in our lives." Camilla said with a shrug.

"Let's try each one." Talia suggested.

Kirana took the chocolate milk, Ariana took the applesauce, Ezra took the kiwi slices, Camilla took the brownie, and Talia took the chicken slider in one hand. Ariana, Ezra, Camilla, and Talia slowly took a bite of their food while Kirana slowly took a slip of her drink. Their eyes were widened in surprise as if their brains were set to explode. They continue to eat their lunch in excitement.

"Now, this I have to admit!" Camilla smiled as she ate the brownie. "The foods here are amazing!"

"I love this school!" Talia yelled in excitement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, the siblings ran up on the school rooftop and grabbed each other's hands to cast a teleportation spell, moving instantaneously from Roosevelt High School to the Crete Fortress.

The full moon started to shine on the dark night. The K-5 began running across the rooftops of the city as they are jumping on each building while doing flexible flips and cartwheels. They also are wearing their official ninja outfits: Kirana wore a blue tight-fitting leotard with quarter length puff sleeves that are wrapped around the elbow with a hoodie, tight emerald green leggings, and blue knee-high, high-heeled boots. Camilla wore a red tight-fitting leotard with quarter length puff sleeves that are wrapped around the elbow with a hoodie, tight kelly green leggings, and red high-heeled boots that goes just past her ankles. Ariana wore a purple tight-fitting leotard with quarter length puff sleeves that are wrapped around the elbow with a hoodie, tight brownish green leggings, and purple high-heeled, shin-high boots. Talia wore an orange tight-fitting leotard with quarter length puff sleeves that are wrapped around the elbow with a hoodie, tight light green leggings, and orange ankle-high boots. And Ezra wore a black shirt with long teal sleeves that reach to his wrist and a teal hoodie, black pants with teal lines at the side, and teal combat boots with turquoise laces.

Then, the siblings stopped on the last building and looked over the city.

"Alright, guys." Kirana said. "Today has been a great day. We should head to the arcade center before heading home."

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra cheered happily. But Ariana stared down at the empty sidewalk and saw someone that caught her attention.

"Hey guys. Look at that." Ariana said, pointing her finger down from the building.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra looked down to see that Ariana was pointing at a teenage boy walking casually down the sidewalk below. He has a slender build, long black hair, and brown eyes. He wore a black shirt, blue jeans, a black and white bandana, and black fingerless gloves. Ariana had her mouth wide open with her eyes popping dreamily, making her siblings believing it was love at first sight.

"He's the cutest boy I've ever seen." Ariana muttered as she stared down at the boy.

"And he's the only boy you've ever seen besides Ezra." Camilla pointed out.

Ariana was snapped out of her romantic daydream and gave Camilla a sidelong glare.

"My point still stands." Ariana retorted.

Suddenly, the sound of evil giggle drew the mages' attention back to the ground. They could see him being halted by female street gang twins coming out from the shadows. One twin has a svelte figure with long black hair tied in ox-horns with two long braids in each sides and violet eyes. She wore a black sleeveless qipao dress over a white long sleeved catsuit and black combat boots. The another twin has a svelte figure with long white hair tied in ox-horns with two long braids in each sides and violet eyes. She wore a white sleeveless qipao dress over a black long sleeved catsuit and white combat boots. The mages watched as the twins moved closer to attack the boy, who doesn't want to fight them because he's a gentleman and can't find a way to escape from them.

"He's in trouble! We have to help him!" Ariana declared with a gasp.

Before Ariana can make a move to jump off the building, Kirana put her hand on Ariana's shoulder to stop her.

"Remember mother told us to not expose our powers towards humans." Kirana reminded, not willing to disobey her mother's rules.

"Look, we know what mother said to us, but we can't just sit here and do nothing when the boy is about to get a beat down." Camilla said.

"I know, but-" Kirana explained.

"Well, I'm not gonna stand here and watch." Ariana said, cutting her older sister off. "I'm going in."

Ariana jumped off the building with Camilla, Talia, and Ezra immediately following after her. Kirana rolled her eyes in disappointment and followed after her younger siblings. Ezra ran up and performed a split kick at the twins' faces. Camilla punched the white-haired twin with her fist that send her straight to the wall that knocked her unconscious. Kirana ran forward to deliver a swift leg at the black-haired twin while Talia jumped in the air and swung her legs at her face. Ariana quickly spotted the boy was getting matched by the conscious white-haired girl and swiftly kicked her away from the boy. Ariana ran up to the boy and they looked at each other, but the purple mage kunoichi was surprised that the boy wasn't somewhat freaked out about the whole thing.

"Who are you, ladies?" The boy asked.

"Please don't freak out." Ariana replied. "My siblings and I won't harm you. We're the good guys. You have to trust me."

"I do and I like the way you fight." The boy said with a flirty smile. "You got skills."

Ariana offered the boy a sweet smile and held out her hand. The boy was about to take it when the van screeched on the street next to them. The defeated street twins quietly snuck out of sight before the mages can notice their escape. Four identical men got out of the van as one of them kicked Ariana that send her flying into Talia, who was flying into Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra as the five mages got hit against the building wall.

The men observed the boy silently and immediately grabbed him into the van before the van drove away.

"They're escaping!" Ariana shouted as she got up and chasing after the van. "And they got the boy!"

Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra followed after Ariana in a nick of speed.

"Any idea why those guys grab the boy?" Camilla shouted.

"Not a clue!" Kirana shouted back.

As the four mage ninjas raced after the van to rescue the boy, Talia started running after her older sisters and younger brother until she was confronted by one of the strange man. Talia lifted her arms out in front of her and fired a strong concentrated beam of wind at the man, who was hit by the attack. Talia's eyes widened wide in shock as the man didn't move one inch from her power. Talia growled as she swung her leg to deliver a kick, but the man quickly caught her leg with one hand and threw the orange mage kunoichi towards the wall.

Without attacking back, Talia ran away as quick as possible and the man followed after her. As Talia ran into the dead end alley, she turned around to see the man walking up slowly behind her. Talia screamed as she closed her eyes tightly in fear and created a saw disc-like solid air blade to attack the man, slicing his face in the process. The man covered his face with his hands and fell to the ground as Talia opened her eye to see pink light illuminating at her sight.

"What the heck?" Talia muttered as she walked over to the man to get a closer look at him.

Talia gasped fearfully when she saw the man's face being torn away that revealed a half robot face. A pink strange brain-like creature jumped out of the robot man's chest and growled at Talia, who screamed out loud and watched the creature running away with a screech.

Talia ran up to her siblings, who were walking down an ally after the van had escaped.

"Guys, you're never gonna believe this! That strange man I've fought had a pink, squashy brain!" Talia shouted.

"We all have brains, Talia." Ezra said in a confusing tone.

"Not all of us, that's for sure." Ariana remarked.

"But it was in his chest!" Talia screamed.

"No Talia, not in our chests." Kirana said with a sigh.

"You're not listening to me!" Talia shouted. She quickly got freaked out when Kirana slapped her face out of annoyance. "Why did you slap me?"

"I was snapping you out of this crazy talk." Kirana responded.

"Well, that didn't work!" Talia snapped as she led her siblings to the alley where she fought the robot man. "You guys have got to believe me!"

"I'm not so sure we do." Camilla said as she followed her youngest sister.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you'll change your mind when you see that he's..." Talia said, pointing her finger into the alley.

"Gone." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra said as they peered into the alley.

"Gone?" Talia repeated in confusion.

Talia looked into the alley and the robot man was nowhere to be found. She looked at her siblings as they walked away before she slowly followed them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the Crete Fortress, the K-5 knelt in a row in front of their mother inside the dojo and reported their mission to Sage.

"I see." Sage said in a calm but strict manner. "You have work together as a team, but you five let them get away with the boy. That proves that you were not fully ready for what was out there. Maybe we can try again in another year."

"A year?!" Ezra repeated.

"What?! Mother, he doesn't have another year! But we have to save him now." Ariana demanded softly. "The boy was counting on us to save him. We have to go out there."

Sage thought for a minute and finally made her decision.

"Hmm, very well." Sage said with a nod. "But to fight more effectively, you're going to need a leader."

"My skills are going superior every day from my training. I should be the leader." Kirana said eagerly as she raised her hand.

"Why you?" Camilla said as she looked at Kirana. "I'm strongest and the best fighter there is. I should be the leader."

"Oh please. I'm smarter than all of you girls combine! It should be me!" Ariana voiced as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No way, sis. Boys are the best for leading! It should be me!" Ezra argued.

"No, it should be me!" Talia scoffed slightly.

Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra stared at Talia their blank looks while Camilla glared at Talia an expressionless glance.

"I may not have a reason, but I know it's gonna be me." Talia smiled.

"Well, since you all trained very well, I will predict the future on it." Sage said, closing her eyes to concentrate on her magical powers and opened her eyes to look at her children. "The team leader is Kirana."

Kirana smiled happily while Ariana, Talia, and Ezra congratulated their older sister as Camilla got up and walked out of the dojo with a stoic look on her face, leaving her siblings staring at her with concern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 are sitting on top of the apartment building. Kirana told them the building has the same logo as the van that kidnapped the boy and they should wait long enough on the kidnapper's arrival. Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra nodded their heads in agreement. After few hours passed on, the mages became bored for a quick minute until they heard something that made them looking over the building below. They saw the van drove into parking area next to the building, but the driver was a different person.

"Alright, let's go, guys." Kirana ordered.

The K-5 jumped off the building and landed slowly in front of the man as they summoned out their elemental magic engulfing in their hands.

"Alright, big boy." Camilla said. "We can do things the easy way or the hard way."

"Yeah, there's five of us and one of you." Ariana grinned. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

The man didn't reply and pulled out a high-tech gun as he began shooting pink lasers at the mages, who quickly dodged away from each blast.

"You have to ask, didn't ya?!" Ezra yelled angrily at Ariana.

The man quickly ran inside the van and drove off into the streets. The K-5 climbed on the top of apartment building and ran across the rooftops as they chased after the van.

"He's getting away!" Ariana exclaimed.

"Not this time!" Kirana said.

Kirana unleashed out a sharp shuriken made of water from her palm straight down to the tire, causing the man to lose control of the van and crashed to the nearby lamp pole.

"Now, we're getting somewhere." Kirana smiled to herself.

The mages jumped down the street and walked toward the back of the van for investigation. Camilla opened the door behind the van and a canister rolled out of it to stop itself at Talia's feet, causing the orange mage kunoichi to stare surprisingly at the glowing green substance inside the canister.

"No way…!" Talia muttered in shock.


	2. Chapter Two

The K-5 stared at the green mysterious canister in awe.

"Whoa!" The siblings breathed.

"What is that?" Ezra asked.

"Ariana, any ideas?" Kirana asked.

"I don't know." Ariana replied, picking up the canister and examined it carefully. "But this fascinating chemical must contain some substance that I saw those strange men have in their van."

"But why?" Camilla asked.

"With alien robots, everything's possible." Talia said menacingly.

"Enough already!" Ariana snapped in frustration. "There's no such thing as alien robots!"

Just before the man could fire them with his high-tech gun, Kirana summoned a giant water rope from her right palm to stop him from attacking by wrapping him around his body. The man has a very slim figure with black hair and wore a black tank top and blue jeans.

"Alright, time to get some answers." Camilla said, snatching the canister from Ariana's hands and approached the man to grab him by the collar. "Who are you and how do you know about this?"

"The name's Omar and I've got nothing to say to you girls and your little kid too." The man said with a glare.

"That's because you don't know us yet." Camilla grinned evilly as she uncapped the lid of the canister. "Maybe this should change your mind."

"What...what are you doing?" Omar asked in a scared panic.

"What do you think?" Camilla grinned slyly as she approached to the guy threateningly. "It's a game I'd like to call...Human Mutation. It's your choice, dude. Either be human or be ugly. So what's it gonna be?"

Camilla tilted the canister and the ooze slowly began to pour itself out right above Omar's face. As the ooze got closer and closer to his face, Omar's eyes got wider and wider. When Omar turned his face away, the ooze went back into the canister.

"Okay! Okay!" Omar shouted. "They called themselves the Kraang! They've been capturing scientists all over the world!"

"Well, that worked well." Kirana grinned.

"Of course, it did." Camilla grinned back.

"What do they want with the scientists?" Ezra asked, turning back to Omar.

"All I know is that they're taking them out by the city tonight, but I don't know where!" Omar explained quickly.

"That's awesome!" Ariana smiled suddenly. "There's still a chance to save the boy's life. Oh, he's so gonna like me!"

"I don't think you're his type." Omar chuckled mockingly.

Ariana opened her palm and let out a micro-dragonfly flying on top of Omar's head as its wings turned into tentacles to check all of his memory on the Kraang before flying back to its creator. With a quick nod from Ariana's look, Kirana flung Omar back to the van with her water rope.

"Okay, guys." Kirana spoke to the girls as she secretly caught Omar's eyes opened slightly to hear their conservation. "We go back to the fortress, gear up, drive up to the Kraang secret hideout, and cruise right in for them to think we're Omar."

"Then we bust some heads?" Camilla asked mischievously.

"And then we bust some heads." Kirana confirmed with a smile.

"I love a happy ending." Camilla grinned.

With that, the siblings vanished into the night sky, leaving Omar smiling slyly as he was unaware of the siblings' true intentions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the Crete Fortress, Kirana explained her secret plan to her siblings in order to save the kidnapping boy. Ariana was using a blowtorch to work on one of new inventions to help her and her siblings on their first actual mission in her lab as she tries to make it perfect as she can with a lot of concentration.

In the kitchen, Camilla was talking pet cat named Samson, who was eating his cat food. When she was a little girl, Camilla rescued Samson after he was homeless and bruised up in the box. Since that day, Camilla had a soft spot for Samson and often talked to him about the important parts of her life in private. This was important for Camilla as she needed Samson as a sounding board for her inner-thoughts and feelings because she couldn't reveal her feelings to her siblings because she doesn't want to seem "soft" to them. But, Samson has been an excellent listener as Camilla often played with him, cooed at him, and allowing him to ride around on her neck for personification. Unknown to her, Talia was already behind her older with a wide grin while Ezra was grabbing a can of green apple soda from the fridge.

"I know you're a little worried about me." Camilla whispered softly. "But I'm not gonna lie to you. We're never got to a real battle before and I don't know what's gonna happen. But you don't have to worry. I'll make it back." Her eyes became a little emotional. "I love you, Samson."

Samson took a bite off his food and walked toward Camilla as he gave her a small lick on her cheek, causing her to smile.

"I knew I can count on you." Camilla smiled brightly, giving Samson a soft hug.

"Aww!" Talia spoke.

That made Camilla spun around with a shock and surprise look on her face to see Talia sitting at the kitchen table.

"Are you talking to your pet cat?" Talia asked.

"No!" Camilla denied. Then her face changed into her angry mode. "Shut up!"

"That's so adorable." Talia teased.

"You know what?" Camilla growled as her hands engulfed in burning flames. "I'm gonna burn you to ashes!"

Camilla jumped over the kitchen table and chased after Talia, who started running from her older sister. The sound of Talia screaming and running for her life didn't get anyone's attention. Ezra just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Girls." Ezra groaned.

In the dojo, Kirana sat on the floor as she was planning her strategy to create a perfect plan with a touch of her magic.

"I'm positive my plan is gonna work." Kirana said to herself.

"As you know, no plan ever made contact with an enemy." Sage warned as she walked up to Kirana from behind. "It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if you and your siblings succeed."

Kirana got up and turned to face her mother.

"I'm...I'm just afraid that failing this mission is never an option for me as a leader." Kirana said with a frown. "Do you really think I'm ready for this?"

"That is for you to discover on your own." Sage said simply.

"But what if something goes wrong?" Kirana said.

"Failure is a possibility every leader must face, Kirana." Sage said as she gazed at the family photo of herself, her husband, her four-year-old son, and her three-year-old daughters. "It's something I had to face in Japan, during my final battle with my enemy, Lady Shade. Years ago, Burakkurozu Rozu, as Lady Shade was called then, had been my friend. But the love of a man came between us. She could not accept it, and her jealously turned outward in a vengeful attack. And while she could not defeat me that day, my world fell and crumbled around me...as the battle took the life of my beloved Caesar...And I lost your older brother, Shori. And I don't want that happen to you, your sisters, or Ezra."

"But that's my point, mother." Kirana said worriedly. "You lost everything...that I don't even know my father and my older brother anymore."

"I lost many things." Sage agreed slowly. "My family. My home. My name." She turned back to Kirana with a smile. "But I gained many things as well. Like the five of you."

"Don't worry, mother." Kirana said with a confident smile. "We can handle this. And I'm sure my father and my older brother will be very proud."

The sound of Talia yelling made Kirana and Sage jump. Talia screamed and ran past them with a helmet on her head as Camilla was close behind and threw flaming fireballs at her.

"Get back here!" Camilla yelled.

Kirana groaned slightly and Sage shook her head in annoyance.

"Good luck." Sage said with a wry sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Omar and his partner Snake stood guard of the gate as they were waiting for their enemies to arrive with the Kraang soldiers on their side with gun blasters in their hands. But the Kraang's improper chat were beginning to annoy them just as soon as they spotted the white van was heading their way. The Kraang were using their alien tech gun to fire pink energy blasts at the van, but it was no use. At rapid speed, the van crashed into the gates of the compound. While the Kraang soldiers were out of the way, Snake and Omar have no escape from the fire and two full mutagens appeared out of the car crash to spatter them, causing them to scream in pain and started to mutate into two plant monsters. But it was actually a distraction for the K-5 to climb on the scale wall, thanks to the wall-scaling brass knuckles with spikes that Ariana had fabricated. Now they are quietly crawling on the wall to make sure no one spotted them.

"Wow, that was a great plan, Kirana." Talia smiled. "Nice work on the brass knuckles, Ariana."

Ariana nodded her head with a thumb-up.

"That was definitely the plan, Talia." Kirana explained as she looked down at Talia. "Now, let's keep climbing."

"Way ahead of you." Talia confirmed with a smile.

After climbing and heading inside the compound, the mages sneakily got inside the hall by entering through the air shaft. Kirana and Camilla took down two strange men as Ariana, Talia, and Ezra jumped down after them. They looked around the hall in awe. The entire place looked like something out of the ordinary with the walls being silver metallic with the glowing pink energy lines. To Ariana's eyes, the place was pretty cool.

"Incredible." Ariana said in amazement. "I've never seen anything like this. These guys are using a metal alloy far out of the ordinary."

"Wow, an unrecognized metalloid that even you don't know about." Camilla said sarcastically. "It boggles my mind so much."

"Hey, if you want to talk metallurgy with the genius, then bring it." Ariana threatened angrily as her glare went close to Camilla's face.

"Oh, I love to see you try." Camilla said.

"Girls!" Ezra snapped. "We're inside an enemy's territory! Let's find the boy and get out of here!"

With that, Ezra and Talia followed Kirana and Camilla through the halls with Ariana walking behind them. They sneakily snuck down the hallway and turned a corner to see a group of neon blue and silver robots standing around in front of them. Kirana puts her hands in front of her chest and formed a large ball of water in between them until she threw it at the robots once it had expanded. Camilla's hands began to glow in fiery red and released a strong blast of flame at the incoming robot. Ariana released many saw disc-like earth blades from her violet belt pocket she picked up earlier at the robots behind her. Talia sped towards the robots as her body became surrounded by wind energy and tackled them hardly. And Ezra fired many lightning bolts at the robots that kept coming. After the robots were defeated, the four mages screamed as they watched several pink brain-like alien creatures slithering away from their very eyes. But Talia placed her hands on her hips in disappointment.

Suddenly, Ezra heard weird beeping noises in another room. He peeked into the room on the right side of the hallway and widened his eyes at something cruel. Inside the room, was a grey inflatable robot that resembled to a marshmallow figure. There were wires plugged into the robot and the wires were causing the robot to glitch uncontrollably. Ezra's eyes looked in worry for the robot, so he went in and unplugged the wires. He went over to the robot and backed up when the robot got up and opened it's eyes, which were black with a line connecting them. The robot looked at Ezra and waved at him.

"Hello. I am Norbit, a personal healthcare companion robot." The robot introduced. "I am thankful you have freed me."

"Um, hi Norbit." Ezra said. "I'm Ezra and I can help get you out of here. My sisters and I can take you to our home where you'll be safe."

"I would like to escape this place." Norbit said. "These creatures have imprisoned me for almost 40 years."

"That's horrible." Ezra said. "Come on, big guy. Let me introduce you to my sisters."

Ezra lead Norbit out of the room and walked over to his sisters.

"Whoa, aliens in robot bodies!" Ariana whispered in amazement.

"Oh, when did I heard that before?" Talia said, turning to her older sisters and rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah! I did! But did any of you girls believe me? NO!"

"Girls?" Ezra interrupted. "I'd like you to meet someone who was also captured by the Kraang."

The girls turned to Ezra and immediately looked at Norbit as he waved at the sisters.

"Hello, I am Norbit." Norbit said.

"Cool." Ariana said in awe. "He's a robot. What can he do?"

"I am a personal healthcare companion." Norbit answered.

"Norbit, these are my older sisters; Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia."

"Hi." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia greeted.

Suddenly, the alarms began to buzz. The mages looked at each other in confusion because neither of them set on the alarm by mistake, but they quickly took off to find the boy and they can get out of here with Norbit following close by.

"Let's move!" Kirana said.

"Move where?" Camilla asked.

"I think those are power conduits up there." Ariana replied, pointing at the ceiling from above.

"Oh, that's really fascinating of you, Ariana. Thanks for sharing that info." Camilla said sarcastically.

"Listen, hothead, all of the conduits are all converging that way, which means that whatever is happening in that direction is important!" Ariana snapped angrily.

Ariana stomped down the hall. Kirana grinned with a shrug and followed after Ariana. Ezra quietly laughed and followed his sisters with Norbit close by him. Talia leaned her elbow against Camilla's shoulder with a playful grin.

"You just got spanked, sis." Talia laughed.

Camilla grabbed Talia's hand and twisted it backwards.

"Ow! Ow! Mercy!" Talia begged in pain.

Camilla released Talia's hand and followed her sisters while Talia pouted at her hot-tempered sister and followed after her siblings and robot friend. They ran down the halls of the base until Ariana suddenly found the teenage boy in some kind of cell.

"Hey, I've found him!" Ariana called, kneeling down on the ground and stared at a strange security lock.

Suddenly, an army of neon blue and silver alien robots came in around the corner and shooting their laser guns at the K-5 and Norbit.

"Ariana, fix the lock! We'll hold them off!" Kirana said, drawing a stream of water out of thin air.

Kirana charged forward and attacked the robots as Camilla, Talia, and Ezra did the same thing with their powers while Ariana gazed back to the lock as she levitated a small brown rock from her belt pocket to shape it as a double round pick. Norbit stayed with Ariana and scanned the teenage boy.

"Scan indicates that you are 16 years old." Norbit said. "And your personality is competitive."

"Wow, your a smart robot." The teenage boy commented. "But why are you fighting those guys?"

"I am not built for fighting." Norbit responded.

"Don't worry, I'll have you out of there in a second!" Ariana reassured to the boy.

"Okay, magic...ninja girl?" The boy said inside the cell.

"I'm a mage kunoichi actually." Ariana said, becoming blushed on her cheeks. "I'm Ariana."

"Casey." The boy said with a friendly smile.

"Wow, that's a really cool..." Ariana blushed.

Kirana was suddenly thrown against Ariana, who got her face smashed against the cell door.

"Ariana, get the lock open!" Kirana yelled.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Ariana said.

Ariana knelt down to continue to unlock the cell with her tool. She removed the cover off the lock system and began fiddling with the wires. But unfortunately, she was having a hard time figuring out how to unlock the cell as the alien tech was too advance for her to handle.

"Look, I don't want to rush you or anything, but hurry up!" Casey shouted.

"Hey, you think it's easy to pick the lock with this tool?!" Ariana said as she levitated the double round lock in front of Casey.

"Sorry." Casey apologized.

After taking down two alien robots, Camilla stomped towards Ariana in extreme frustration.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Camilla groaned, shoving her younger sister aside. "Move! I've got this!"

Camilla punched the lock repeatedly to unlock the cell for the door to slid open. Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, Norbit, Camilla, and Talia looked inside and watched Casey being carried away by a bunch of robots who had entered on the other side. They quickly ran through the cell and turned the corner as the robots were following them to an exit outside.

"Get the door!" Kirana yelled.

Camilla turned around to shut the door in order to halt the robots off, but one robot got in the way. Growling, she unleashed a sudden barrage of flaming fire in rapid speed to punch the robot back and slammed the door by locking it with the handle being melted and molten into a hard substance.

"That'll hold them!" Camilla said, turning back to her siblings and robot friend.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra blinked at Camilla with their surprise looks on their faces.

"What?" Camilla asked.

"You are one twisted mage." Kirana said slowly.

"Thanks." Camilla said with a wink.

"That would explain the fire elemental power in the possession of Camilla." Norbit said.

"Oh right." Ezra remembered. "We're a mage family, which means we have powers. I hope you don't fear us."

"I do not fear the people who have saved my life." Norbit said.

"Aw, he's so nice." Talia smiled.

Casey's harsh cry quickly caught the mages' and robot's attention and they spun around to watch Casey being held captive by the robots.

"Let's go!" Kirana said.

But suddenly, a long leaf-like arm had dropped in front of the girls to halt their tracks. The mages and robot looked up to find themselves being confronted by a tall, 20-foot slender plant-like humanoid that has dark green skin with black-tipped claws, pitch black eyes, and wore a wearing a heavy, form-fitting black armor.

"Oh snap." Talia said slowly.

"You four did this to me!" The male mutant snarled. "Now you're going to pay!"

"It's Omar!" Kirana exclaimed as she and her siblings and robot friend backed away. "He turned into a plant humanoid."

"I'll crash you, ninjas! And your robot too!" Omar grunted with a shriek.

With a sweeping motion, Omar swung out numerous sharp leaf blades towards the girls, but they swiftly dodged the blades one by one before sending him their elemental attacks of their own. Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Norbit watched Casey was being taken to the helicopter.

"Ariana, Ezra, Norbit, go!" Kirana shouted.

Ariana's eyes narrowed and nodded her head as she, Ezra, and Norbit ran off to save Casey. Ariana jumped and launched herself in the air before landing near the chopper pad with a flip.

Back with Omar, he swung his leaf-like arms at Kirana, Camilla, and Talia, causing them to scatter away from each other. Talia frantically sliced the coming leaf blades with her saw-like air attack before finally getting knocked aside. Taking her sister's place, Kirana sliced at every attack coming at her before she was knocked away like Talia. Darting forward, Camilla burned at the vines coming her way from Omar's claws, but the black liquid spurted out sticking to the hot-tempered ninja.

"Okay, that's gross!" Camilla scowled in disgust as she shook the liquid goo off herself.

"Omalgae is really strong, guys!" Talia exclaimed.

"Omalgae?" Camilla questioned.

"Well, his name is Omar and he's a plant." Talia explained. "So yeah."

"Fair enough." Camilla said.

No matter how much they try with every attack they've got, Omar's attacks has proven stronger than the girls combine. Even when Ariana and Ezra was there with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana jumped just in time to fire countless green leaves from her palms at the robots, sending them away from Casey before he was taken to the helicopter. As Ariana was struggling to beat the incoming robots, Casey joined the fight and defeated the robots with his hockey stick with strength and skills. Ezra and Norbit jumped up and went to Ariana and Casey. Ezra summoned a lightning cloud to zap incoming Kraangdroids from a distance.

"You got skills, Ariana." Casey smiled.

"Yeah, you too." Ariana smiled back.

Ezra made the cloud vanish once the Kraangdroids were gone.

"Oh, that's my brother and this robot is friendly." Ariana said as she pointed to Ezra and Norbit.

"Hey, I'm Ezra." Ezra smiled.

"I am Norbit." Norbit said.

"Casey Jones." Casey introduced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the battle, Kirana and her two younger sisters were having some difficulties with beating the Kraang and Omalgae. Kirana had come up with a plan to defeat the robots and Omalgae when she quickly spotted the power generator.

"Camilla, you and Talia take the robots." Kirana said. "I'll take care of the plant."

"You got it." Camilla said with a nod.

Camilla and Talia darted forward, running to the robots and made funny faces to provoke them into shooting just for Kirana to lure Omalgae to the power generator as he was too unaware of her plan. Just in time, Ariana and Casey arrived to watch the scene with Ezra and Norbit by their side.

"What are they doing?" Ezra asked.

"I think they're leading that plant freak to the power generator!" Casey replied.

"That's incredibly stupid!" Ariana exclaimed, but she thinks about her sisters' plan. "But brilliant...or...both!"

When the robots drew their laser guns towards Omalgae, the mutant plant shrieked and backed up closer towards the power generator, where Kirana just the right moment to jump on him to taunt the robots to shoot her before she jumps off. Once the blast made contact with Omalgae, the blast went straight to the power generator that caused the plant mutant to scream in pain and created a large explosion that destroyed Omalgae. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey ran out of the facility. With the teenagers and robot gone, the Kraang had declared them their enemies. But as for the defeated Omalgae, the pumping sound of his heart was pounding hard that showed the sign of his revival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 brought Casey to his apartment and the seven of them sat outside on the fire escape, where Casey was sitting in the window platform feeling very pumped up. Even though Casey barely knew the mages or Norbit, he was very grateful to them since they rescued him from the strange alien robots.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Ariana asked concernedly.

"I guess." Casey said with a shrug and a smile. "If those creeps came back, they will feel the wrath of Casey Jones."

"Can the police help you out?" Kirana asked.

"Yeah, like they will believe the story of alien robots arriving on Earth." Casey laughed with a grin.

"I hear ya." Talia said.

"Norbit, you can stay with me and my family." Ezra said to his new best friend. "Is that ok?"

"It is ok. I cannot thank you and your sisters enough for helping me." Norbit said, making Ezra smile.

"Casey, I promise we will found out what's going on and take them down." Ariana said softly to Casey.

"We will?" Camilla asked confusingly as she looked at Ariana.

"Yes, we will." Ezra said, elbowing his older sister from his shoulder.

"Thanks." Casey said. "But this is my fight."

"No, it's our fight." Ariana said, placing her hand over Casey's shoulder.

Casey looked a bit startled, but he looked up at Ariana with a smile that made the purple mage kunoichi blush with a shy grin. The K-5 and Norbit climbed to the top of the apartment building as Ariana followed her siblings up to the rooftops. Standing up, Ariana turned and waved down to Casey, who waved back. Then, Ariana followed her siblings back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the Crete Fortress, Kirana walked in the dojo to confront her mother about her mission as she sat down on the floor in a mediated position.

"I am impressed, Kirana." Sage said as she complimented her daughter. "You have proved to be an effective leader under the most difficult of circumstances."

"Mother, do you really think I'm ready to be leader for my siblings?" Kirana asked happily. "Because I figured out why."

"Oh?" Sage questioned calmly. "Why?"

"Because you sensed a true warrior spirit inside me that I was destined to become." Kirana said confidently.

"That's not the answer." Sage said.

"Then why did you make me leader?" Kirana asked confusingly.

"Because as a leader, you will learn that there is no right and wrong." Sage explained. "Only choices."

"So, you could have chosen any of us?" Kirana asked.

"Yes." Sage replied with a nod.

"Even Talia?" Kirana exclaimed as she became shocked and horrified by the idea of her youngest sister being the leader.

"No." Sage giggled. "That would have been wrong."

"EVERYBODY!" Talia yelled in excitement. "Get in here! We made the news!"

Sage and Kirana walked into the living room to see Ariana, Ezra, Norbit, and Talia on the floor as Camilla on the coach watching the news on their big screen TV. The anchorman named Carlos Chiang on TV just reported that there are ninjas in New York after police found one of the shruiken that doesn't belong to the mages, causing Ariana and Talia to smile at each other. But Sage froze when she recognized the shuriken onscreen with their insignia on the metal.

"This is awesome!" Talia said excitedly. "I can't believe we're gonna be famous!"

"You all must be more careful." Sage warned firmly. "A ninja's most powerful weapon is the shadows. To be brought out into the light is a dangerous thing."

"Relax, mother." Camilla said casually. "It's just one little news story. What's the worst that could happen?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Somewhere in Tokyo, a dark femme fatale figure was also watching the same news report and recognized the symbol on the shruiken in her large business chair. Her name was formerly known as Burakkurōzu Rōzu, but now she's Lady Shade. She was deadly known as an evil mage kunoichi who lured unsuspecting people in with her charm bewitching charms and then sliced them up with her fearsome powers. She has long wavy black hair, grey eyes, and wore a black qipao patterned with a silver dragon and dark grey leggings, long black gloves, and black high heels. She wasn't shocked nor surprise, but she remained calm on her seat.

"So, my old friend is in New York training her own army." Lady Shade said to herself. "At last. I can finish what I've started. So long ago."

Lady Shade turned to her ninja minions, who stood in their position and kneel down on the ground with respect.

"Prepare my jet." Lady Shade ordered, placing a silver metallic crowned mask on her face. "I'm gonna visit an old friend."


	3. Chapter Three

Under the dark night in the sky over the city, the K-5 stood on the rooftop of the building and looked out over the laboratory building to catch the Kraang as Ariana was peering through a telescope.

"Anything, Ariana?" Kirana asked.

"Not yet." Ariana replied.

Ezra was watching with Kirana and Ariana. Camilla was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed while leaning against the rooftop skylight with her arms folded over her chest. Talia was repeatedly poking her older sister on every limb in amusement, but Camilla finally grabbed Talia's finger and pounced on her in a head lock as Talia was yelping in pain.

"Guys, zip it!" Ezra hissed, turning to glare at his two older sisters. "We ninjas are on surveillance, so we're supposed to be silent!"

"We will until Talia says it!" Camilla said threateningly at Talia.

"Camilla is all wise and powerful!" Talia said as she rolled her eyes.

"And?" Camilla asked slyly.

"And she's better than me in every step of the way!" Talia added as she was gasping for air.

"And?" Camilla smiled, holding her younger sister down tightly.

"And I'm a lonely worm who isn't fit to live on the same planet as her because she's so amazing and I'm a dirtbag!" Talia continued.

"And?" Camilla grinned as she held her hard fire fist over Talia's head.

"And in the history of the universe there's never been..." Talia said quickly with a fright look on her face.

"Ok, that's enough!" Kirana snapped.

Camilla got off of Talia and walked towards Kirana with her bored look on her face.

"Look, we're wasting our time here." Camilla said. "It's obvious that the Kraang aren't going to show up."

"We just have to be patient." Ezra said.

"Trust me, guys." Ariana grinned confidently. "The Kraang are gonna break into that lab tonight because I have reliable Intel."

"Oh really? Intel?" Camilla smirked. "Because Casey told you."

Ariana looked a little bit embarrassed at Camilla's words.

"AKA her boyfriend." Talia smiled teasingly.

Ariana then glared at Talia with a sidelong look. Ariana formed a crush on Casey from the moment she saw him, but now her siblings are too aware about it for a tease.

"He's not my boyfriend, Talia!" Ariana snapped at Talia. She wasn't paying attention to Kirana and Camilla, who were exchanging grins with each other. Ezra just rolled his eyes in annoyance. "He's a boy who's a friend that got kidnapped by the same alien freaks who are gonna break in that lab and we're gonna stop them!"

"Or we could camp here in the cold for no reason at all." Camilla said sarcastically.

"What's going on up here?"

The K-5 stood around in shock when a teenage boy was coming out of the rooftop door. They recognized the boy from Roosevelt High. His name is Tony Hunnam. He was the school bully and captain jock of the football team who was known for always picking up fights with Camilla, who always wins them any time they make contact.

"Kirana! Ariana! Ezra! Camilla! Talia!" Tony sneered. "Are you guys in some kind of costumes? Halloween is here for the next few months!"

"No, Tony." Kirana said calmly. "We're just..."

"Like if this was any of your business!" Camilla snapped angrily.

"I don't know how are we gonna explain this to him." Ariana said as she raised her eyebrow.

"Me either, but he does need a complete memory loss." Camilla said, cracking her fists hard.

Just before Camilla was going to do something violent, Kirana grabbed her wrist just in time to stop her younger sister from causing trouble.

"It's not worth it." Kirana said firmly. "Let's go."

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra turned to leave while Camilla turned away reluctantly with a glare.

"That's right!" Tony taunted. "Walk off, Camilla! You're always gonna be a hotheaded slum."

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra froze and turned around to watch their temperamental sister building up the anger within her. Camilla halted and spun around to power up her flaming fists towards Tony.

"Hey! Watch it, Tony!" Camilla shouted threateningly.

"Oh no, I didn't know you have flaming punching gloves." Tony mocked playfully.

"Punching gloves?!" Camilla snarled angrily.

Ella charged, but Ezra grabbed his second oldest sister as he was trying to restrain the red mage kunoichi.

"Camilla, don't." Ezra says as he struggles to hold his older sister's back.

Kirana, Ariana, and Talia could see that Tony was enjoying the reactions he was getting from Camilla, but they quickly gave Ezra a helping hand in holding their sister back.

"Come. On. Camilla! It's. Not. Worth. It!" Kirana hissed.

"I'm not gonna take this from some idiotic skinny pain in the neck!" Camilla shouted.

On the street below, the Kraang were too busy loading unknown boxes into the van. But Camilla's loud yelling attracted the Kraang's attention. The Kraang followed the voice on the rooftop and charged into the building to attack their enemies with their alien tech guns.

"I swear I'm finished with you up and a piece of your mouth all that's gonna be left!" Camilla shouted as her eyes blazed in flames.

Suddenly, the red mage kunoichi was pulled back just when laser blasts broke out the warm-up fight between Camilla and Tony.

"Kraang droids!" Kirana gasped in alarm as she and her siblings released Camilla.

"Okay, now I'm seriously freaked out." Tony said in surprise.

"Thanks for blowing our cover, Ella." Kirana said irritatedly as she summoned water out of thin air.

Summoning out their weapons with their leader, the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja eyed the Kraang droids, who powered up their laser guns and fired blasts at the girls.

"Scram!" Kirana commanded.

The girls scattered at Kirana's command and charged forward to attack the Kraang droids as the alien robots continued to fire their weapons at them. Each mage kunoichi and ninja had dodged out of the laser blast one by one and began to attack them swiftly, not aware that Tony was hiding behind the door with a surprise look on his face.

"Keep fighting, jock squad!" Tony smiled. "This scene is pure gold!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra turned to see the school jock standing in the rooftop doorway with a black cell phone in his hand.

"Girls, he got us on video!" Ezra said, freaking out a bit.

"Not for long!" Camilla said.

Camilla quickly ran towards Tony and tries to snatch Tony's cell phone away from him, but Tony slammed the door in front of him. But Camilla didn't stop and actually crashed her face directly into the door before slowly falling on the rooftop ground. Her siblings let out a "That's gotta hurt" look while Camilla got up and rubbed her head with a dizzy groan.

"Ha, I'm gonna make some money out of this!" Tony chuckled out loud for the siblings to hear.

To make matters worse, the police sirens alerted loudly from below.

"Uh, we got problem!" Ariana warned. "Police cars are on the move in thirty seconds!"

"Let's move." Kirana ordered.

"Wait, we have to find Tony and break his cell phone! And his face!" Camilla said angrily.

But her siblings were gone out of her sight. Camilla let out a growl and dashed after them to the Crete Fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Crete Fortress, the siblings sat on the couch in a row in front of their mother after reporting their mission to her in the living room.

"Not only did Camilla alert the Kraang on your patrol, but you all got caught on video!" Sage said as she gave a scary glare at her children.

"Mother, he was the angriest, annoying guy in our high school!" Camilla said with a little desperation in her voice.

"And not you." Talia pointed out as she leaned towards Camilla.

With that, Camilla smacked Talia on the back of the head.

"Tony's insults are so stupid and annoying!" Camilla continued. "I mean, no wonder he became the football captain!"

"You're kunoichis and a ninja. You work in the shadows in secrets." Sage reminded, pacing in front of her children. "This becomes complicated if there is proof of your existence in high definition."

"Well, that's easy." Camilla said. "We know where that jerk lives. So, we'll go there and beat him to delete that video by force."

"And that's why cell phones used flash memory to..." Ariana said.

Ariana stopped her techno talk after seeing the dangerous glare on Camilla's face.

"Anger is self-destructive." Sage said warningly.

"And I always thought it was others-destructive." Camilla muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes.

"Camilla, stand up!" Sage commanded sharply.

Scared, Camilla did as she was told and looked up at her mother in fear.

"I think somebody's in trouble." Talia grinned childishly to Ezra, making him hold in his laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the dojo, the three mage kunoichis and the mage ninja circled around Camilla while pulling back on their bow string. Each arrow was set with a black sticky punching bag-shaped object instead of an actual arrow head to avoid cuts on their skins.

"Evade the arrows." Sage said to Camilla.

"No problem!" Camilla said with a grin.

"Hajimé!" Sage said.

Talia, Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra each took turns on shooting their arrows at Camilla, who dodged all of them easily with a smirk on her face. Even Sage caught the arrow quickly when Ariana shot her arrow at her older sister.

"Yamé!" Sage called.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla turned their attention to their mother.

"Again!" Sage ordered. "Except this time, Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. Insult Camilla."

"Wait." Ezra asked in confusion. "Us Insult her?"

"Yes." Sage nodded.

"And she can't fight back?" Ezra asked again, unaware of Camilla's eyes widened in surprise.

"No." Sage said.

"I'm feeling good about this plan!" Ariana laughed.

"That makes two of us." Kirana smiled.

"Hajimé!" Sage commanded.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra held out their bow and arrows as they walked around Camilla carefully with their sly grins. Camilla eyed her youngest sister and heard her laughing sneakily as she knew that she'll be the first one to insult her the most.

"You move like a lazy sloth." Talia laughed tauntingly.

Talia shot out an arrow at Camilla, who dodged the arrow with a full split before jumping back up in her fighting stance.

"I do not!" Camilla shouted with a glare.

"And you always whining like a child." Kirana said mockingly. "Poor me. Nobody understands me."

Kirana aimed an arrow that hit Camilla's back, making the red mage kunoichi growl. In Camilla's opinion, her sisters actually don't understand her and they never will.

"And you don't keep up your thinking whenever we're doing new ancient Japanese skills." Ariana said with a smile as she pulled her elbow back.

Ariana shot out an arrow that also hit Camilla's back, making the red mage kunoichi angrier as she turned at her younger sister with a glare.

"And you're grouchy!" Ariana added.

"And cranky!" Ezra said with a grin as he shot out his own arrow at Camilla's face.

"Shut up!" Camilla shouted angrily.

"Aww, you talk so tough, but inside you're a scared little girl." Kirana said as she shot another arrow at Camilla's face.

"Who needs her mommy?" Ariana taunted as she fired another arrow at Camilla's back.

"And her teddy bear?" Talia added as she shot out another arrow at Camilla's face.

"What's the matter, sis?" Ezra asked mockingly. "Gonna cry?

Listening to her siblings' insults had made Camilla even angrier. One arrow hit the back of her head, another arrow hit the side of her head, the third arrow hit the other side of her face, and finally the last arrow hit her face right between her eyes that caused her to fall back to the floor and reluctantly accepted her defeat.

"Oh, man. I wish with this moment could last forever." Talia sighed with a satisfied smile.

"You know what? Forget this nonsense! This is stupid!" Camilla shouted angrily, getting up off the ground and on her feet with burst of extreme anger.

"Aww!" Talia groaned. "It was fun!"

Camilla turned around to face Sage with her back covered in sticky arrows as she ignored her youngest sister. The arrows fell off Camilla's head, making Talia and Ezra giggle under their breath. Camilla glared angrily at Talia and Ezra with a clenched fist, but she was focused on her mother's stern look.

"As a kunoichi, you must endure insults with patience and humility. You can be a kunoichi until you master it." Sage said sternly. "You must get that video back. Using reason, not force."

Camilla stared at the ground with a frown, but she cautiously glared side to side just check if her siblings didn't see her feeling down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later on, Tony was talking to his best friends about the video he recorded, but neither of them believed him because they found the siblings super cool, especially Camilla despite her temper. All of the sudden, the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja jumped down in front of him, making him hung up the phone after he said that he'll call his friends back.

"Don't come any closer or I'm calling the cops." Tony warned, backing up from the mages.

"We're not gonna hurt you." Camilla said slowly.

"Then, what do you want, hothead?" Tony asked with a snap.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra watched Camilla cautiously to make sure that her suppressed anger doesn't get the best of her.

"Look, we both known that we got off on the wrong foot last night." Camilla said slowly. "And, well, we just want that video back."

Tony crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow. Ezra elbowed Camilla, forcing the red mage kunoichi to slowly form an innocent smile.

"Please." Camilla said.

"I'll do it if you could do something for me." Tony smiled slyly.

"And what's that?" Camilla asked with clenched teeth and her eye twitched for a minute.

"What could you want us to do for you?" Ezra asked.

"I want you to show me some respect." Tony replied.

"I can do that." Camilla grinned, crossing her arms over her chest. Then, her body started to engulf itself in flames. "Before I'll take your face and burned it for the..."

"Okay, Camilla." Kirana said quickly as she put a hand on Camilla's shoulder. "I'll take it from here."

Camilla turned herself away from Tony and crossed her arms angrily as Kirana turned back to the human jock.

"So, what do you want anyway?" Kirana grinned politely.

"I want Camilla to treat me with some respect for the rest of the school year or this video will be posted on the Internet." Tony replied as she waved the video in the girls' faces.

"Why do you want Camilla to do that?" Ezra asked slowly.

"Because I'm tired of her temper on me and it gets on my nerves." Tony responded. "Even, my friends like her better than me."

"Heh, he's got a point." Talia admitted.

"That's because you're a jerk!" Camilla snapped. She grabbed Tony by the arms and pinned him to the ground. "But I'm sick of being nice! You better hand over that video or so help me, I'll kick your football butt all the way to New Jersey!"

Unfortunately, Camilla's scream caught the Kraang's attention once again that made them drive their van towards them, but Kirana caught them at her sight in a quick second.

"Girls, the Kraang!" Kirana said, pointing out the white van driving directly towards them.

"Camilla, get out of the way!" Ezra shouted

Camilla was about to punch the lights out of Tony, but she looked up to see the van heading in her direction. Kirana jumped forward and pushed them off the road just in time as the van sped past them.

"Let's do it!" Kirana ordered.

Camilla quickly formed a large ball of fire between her hands and threw it at the van, causing the vehicle to crash into a building wall.

"Heh, piece of cake." Camilla said with a smirk as she crossed her arms smugly. But she spotted the five Kraang coming out through the back of the van and started shooting out pink laser blasts with their alien tech guns. "Okay, I spoke too soon!"

The K-5 charged forward and began fighting against the Kraang droids with their own elemental powers. Tony slowly moved away from the fight and climbed into the back of the van to observe the alien tech inside with his wide eyes, but Camilla caught him at her sight and stomped her feet towards the van.

"You're not getting away from me that easily!" Camilla cried.

"Camilla, what are you doing? Get back here!" Kirana demanded.

"Camilla, come back!" Ezra exclaimed.

Camilla ignored her siblings and walked her way toward Tony as she cracked her knuckles real hard.

"You and I have some unfinished business!" Camilla snarled as she was moving closer to Tony, who was backing away from her in fear. "You better gave me that phone right now!"

Camilla spun back around to fight off against three Kraang droids with her fire punches while Tony stood there watching the whole fight as the van drove away with them in it.

"Let's get out of here!" Camilla cried as she held out a hand towards Tony.

"Forget it!" Tony snapped. "You're been on my nerve for far too long and now I'm not going anywhere with you!"

After Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra defeated all of the Kraang droids, they quickly chased after the van and saw their sister beating up the Kraang inside the van.

"Camilla!" Ariana shouted as she and her siblings ran right behind the van. "Get out of there!"

But Camilla wasn't listening to her younger sister as her mind focused on the human boy.

"Listen, Tony!" Camilla shouted, walking forward to grab Tony by his arm. "You have been an idiotic, selfish jerk ever since I first met you and I'm not gonna take insult from a dork like you!"

Suddenly, the Kraang droid grabbed Camilla by the arm and threw her out of the moving van, sending her crashing into her siblings and knocked them over to the ground. Then, the van got away with Tony inside with them.

After the van was gone out of their sight, the K-5 got up and dusted off their ninja clothing. Camilla turned to notice that her four siblings are glaring at her.

"Nice going, Camilla." Kirana said sarcastically.

"Me? What did I do?" Camilla snapped angrily.

"What do you think?" Kirana yelled. "You left the four of us in the middle of the fight to yell at Tony! We could've stop them, but thanks to your annoying temper, Tony still has the cell phone that's now in the hands of the Kraang! Now, how are we supposed to stop them?"

"Well, thanks for my trusted robotic dragonfly I've sent earlier, we can easily track them with my communicator." Ariana smiled proudly as she showed her siblings a small purple radar compass-like device in her hand.

"You placed a tracking device." Ezra said.

"Great." Kirana said. "We can follow their trail to their hideout. Nice, Ariana!"

"It's a gift." Ariana smiled.

"And then we kick some butts." Camilla grinned as she smacked a fist into her palm.

"Actually, we are going to kick some butts." Kirana said firmly as she stared at Camilla with a stern look. "You are going home."

"Are you kidding me?" Camilla snapped. She turned to Ariana, Talia, and Ezra for backup. "Come on, guys. Are we really gonna let Kirana lecture us like this?"

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked at each other in silence.

"Look, Camilla, Lee's right on this one." Ariana said.

"You're gotta to control your temper on your own." Kirana said. "Because if you don't, we can't trust you anymore."

"Sorry, Camilla." Talia said, sadly.

"You can get through it." Ezra encouraged her.

As Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra went to chase the van, Camilla angrily stomped her fists on the ground and went back to the Crete Fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the Crete Fortress, Camilla was inside the kitchen completely mad and angry. How can Ariana, Talia, and Ezra take Kirana's side even though they always question about her leadership on every mission? Sometimes she wished she herself was never related to them.

"Who does Kirana thinks she is?" Camilla exclaimed angrily as she sat on the kitchen table. "So what if I've got a temper! I'm still the best fighter we've got! Also, my anger makes me a better fighter!" She turned to Samson, who was resting on the table. "You understand me, don't you, Samson?"

Samson hopped onto Camilla's left shoulder and licked his owner on the left cheek as a response.

"Yeah, I thought so." Camilla smiled.

"I understand you, too." Sage said unexpectedly.

Camilla looked at the kitchen door to see her mother standing there.

"Seriously, you gotta knock or something next time!" Camilla cried, jumping in fright a bit.

"Let me tell you a story." Sage said calmly.

"Mother, I'm not really in the mood for a story right now." Camilla sighed.

"Samson, lick Camilla's cheek if you're in the mood for a story." Sage ordered as she turned to the cat.

Samson licked Camilla's cheek again as a response.

"Very well. When I was a young woman, I fell in love with a man." Sage began.

"Oh, joy." Camilla sighed, sarcastically.

"Silence." Sage ordered, firmly.

Camilla quickly shut her mouth, so her mother can continue her story.

"His name was Caesar. Your father." Sage continued. "I love him very much until Burakkurōzu Rōzu wanted his attention for herself. One day, she insulted me in front of her. She called me many things. I've felt my anger rising in my body and I lost my temper. And later on, our rivalry was changed into hatred until Shade continued to finish me. But in the process, I've lost my beloved Caesar."

"But it wasn't your fault, Mother." Camilla said sadly. "Shade insulted you and you didn't have a choice."

"Well, I could have chose to ignore her, but instead, I let her anger me." Sage said calmly. She walked closer to Camilla. "And that's the choice that I made. What choice will you make?"

Camilla watched Sage walked away out of the kitchen, leaving her thinking to herself and knew exactly what to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja had followed the tracking device from Ariana's compass device to a stereotypical abandoned building as they stood against the edge of a wall to look around the corner at the building.

"We're here." Ariana whispered quietly.

"Are you guys sure we can really gonna do this mission without Camilla?" Talia asked.

"Not to worry, Talia. We can handle this." Lee said.

"I don't know." Talia said, sadly. "It just feels that we're ready to become vulnerable without her."

Then, Kirana smacked Talia at the back of the head.

"Thanks." Talia smiled.

"Happy to help." Kirana grinned. "Let's move."

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quietly snuck inside the building undetected. They went through the maze of dusty box crates and cobweb spiders. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra followed behind Kirana as they hid behind the crates with their eyes staring wide at the massive tank full of mutagen inside. They also noticed the Kraang stood around Tony in a circle as the alien robots are plotting to use Tony as a test subject while the human boy was tied to the chair.

"Talia." Kirana whispered.

"I'm on it." Talia whispered back.

Talia summoned a light wind breeze to pull the chair that Tony was sitting slowly towards her and her siblings. Tony noticed that the chair was rolling slowly backwards and turned to see Talia was using her magic powers to save him.

"Don't worry, Tony. We're here to save you." Kirana whispered.

"Forget it!" Tony snapped, looking over his shoulder in surprise. "I'm not leaving with you guys! Not one way or another!"

Thanks to Tony's loud voice, the Kraang spun around and realized that the K-5 are rescuing the human boy as they powered up their laser guns and aimed them at the mage kunoichis and mage ninja.

"Stop the one that needs to be stopped." One of the Kraang said.

"He just couldn't shut up." Ezra groaned.

"Remind me one more time why do we have to rescue this guy?" Ariana said to Kirana, Talia, and Ezra.

As the Kraang droids fired pink energy blasts, the K-5 swiftly battled against the evil Kraang. Kirana launched a series of kicks with her legs engulfed in solid water in rapid succession to attack the first group of Kraang droids, Ariana approached the incoming droids by pounding her fists to the ground for a hail of rocky boulders coming up from the floor to attack them, Talia dashed forward to the next group of the Kraang droids and slashed them with high speed tornadoes, and Ezra charged forward to the last group of Kraang droids and electrocuted them with fast lightning strikes. During the fight, Tony was too busy trying to break free while being tied up into a chair that made him scoot towards the mutagen tank. His eyes widened wide when he caught a black spider crawling on his shoulders. Suddenly, one of the Kraang shot a pink energy blast at the mutagen tube and the glowing blue-green liquid substance poured onto the spider and Tony, causing him to scream out loud painfully and caught everyone's attention. The whole Kraang squad went over to check the noise and they all got thrown to the wall that made the Kraang aliens crawled away from their robot bodies.

Suddenly, a tall black spider mutant came out of the shadows. He has a slender figure with grey skinny arms and legs, four black spider legs with mutagenic appendages on his back, and two glaring yellow eyes. He walked threateningly in front of the girls, who were backing away slowly.

"I don't like the looks of that!" Talia said.

"Look at what did you three did to me!" Tony yelled. "I'm now a hideous freak and now you're gonna pay!"

"Let's do this, guys. The five of us could handle him." Kirana said.

"Okay, this must be a bad time to say this." Ariana pointed out. "But you sent one of us home."

"And right now, I wish it was me!" Talia whimpered.

"This is your fault!" Tony growled. "I'm gonna tear your faces off!"

"Alright, guys." Kirana said as she whirled the water out of thin air in her hand. "Let's show this freak who we really are!"

"Get him!" Ezra shouted.

Kirana charged forward to attack Tony, but the mutant spider used one of his spider legs hit the blue mage kunoichi aside that send her crashing into a bunch of dusty boxes across the room. Ariana ran towards the mutant spider and jumped up in the air to deliver a one-legged driving kick with her leg covered by earth as a deadly force down on Tony's head, but Tony's spider legs blocked the attack and threw the purple mage kunoichi away that made her crash into Kirana, who was getting up from the broken boxes. Talia attacked Tony's face with wide-arced wind kicks repeatedly, but Tony's spider legs knocked her straight to her older sisters. Ezra attacked Tony from behind with multiple hits with his shield, but Tony kicked Ezra to his sisters. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra got back to their feet as they knew that none of the mages' attacks could outmatched him.

"Do you think those nasty spider legs could beat us?" Talia asked tauntingly.

Tony suddenly unleashed a giant orange triangular web to ensnare the siblings together inside and swung them around in overhead circles several times before finally slammed them into the ground. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra groaned painfully as they got up and quickly noticed that the floor was beginning to crack around where they're standing. They screamed as they fell to the floor below and landed on a platform sealed with mutagen under them.

"I totally did not saw that coming!" Talia said with a groan. "We're no match for Spider Fang!"

"Spider Fang?" Kirana snapped as she and her younger siblings got up from the floor.

"You know, because Tony is a spider with fang-like teeth." Talia explained. "So I thought..."

"We get it!" Ezra said in annoyance.

Tony jumped down to land in front of the four mages and roared at them.

"Playtime's over, fellas." Tony said loudly. "It's extermination time!"

"Wow, I should've known this guy has an ugly side!"

Spider Fang, Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked up to see a familiar mage kunoichi standing on top of the opening platform from above.

"Camilla!" Ariana and Talia yelled happily.

"Camilla! Your back!" Ezra said in relief.

"Glad to see you, sis!" Kirana grinned. "Come and join us!"

Camilla jumped off from the opening platform and landed in between the mutant spider and her mage siblings.

"Well, well, well! It's the hotheaded magic girl with the nasty temper!" Spider Fang said mockingly as he looked down at Camilla.

"And it's the stupid loudmouth jock who's about to get his butt kicked by a girl like always!" Camilla countered with a smirk.

Spider Fang unleashed a flurry of berserker punches at Camilla, who swiftly dodging on each punch that were coming in her way. Kirana, Talia, and Ezra stood their ground and watched the fight as Ariana gazed down at the floor with fright.

"Uh, let's not fall in this tank." Ariana said, looking down at the glass floor with a vat of the mutagen swirling slowly below them.

Back to the battle, Spider Fang shot out numerous web balls directly at Camilla. But the red mage kunoichi dodged each one in a nick of speed and unleashed a barrage of flaming punches against Spider Fang, who took the hit without any sudden reaction. Spider Fang got up and stared slyly at Camilla.

"So, the hothead thinks she can stop me." Spider Fang taunted. "What's that, girlie? You too afraid to fight me off your ashy hands?"

Camilla glared and shut her eyes to take a long breath, ignoring the spider mutant's taunts and using the wisdom she has learned from hearing about her mother's past failures. Suddenly, Camilla's eyes opened and she let out a smirk. Darting forward, she delivered a brutal barrage of vertical spinning flaming kicks at Spider Fang while rising into the air and hit him with an axe kick that knocked the spider mutant down onto the ground.

"That's some move, Camilla." Spider Fang admitted in surprise as he was getting up from the ground.

"But that's the thing, Tony." Camilla grinned as she watched her siblings jumped down behind her and she cracked her knuckles real hard. "We're mage ninjas!"

Then, the K-5 charged forward to attack Spider Fang. Kirana gathered the full force of her magic energy in her palms and released an omni-directional sphere of water that hit Spider Fang anything inside of it, Talia attacked Spider Fang with five wind backflip kicks, Ezra darted forward and performed a roadhouse kick straight at Spider Fang's face, Ariana lunged forward and launched a powerful rock-covered kick hard at Spider Fang, and Camilla unleashed a sudden barrage of fireballs in high and low directions that burned Spider Fang on impact. At his defeat, Spider Fang watched Camilla crushed the cell phone with her combat boot to destroy the evidence of the K-5.

"No, my phone!" Tony yelled as he found himself surrounded by the K-5. "You guys are going to regret this!"

With that, Spider Fang took his leave by crawling up out of the building. Then, the mages followed him up to the rooftop, where they saw him jumping from building to building before vanishing into the night. But they quickly left the hideout before the police could arrive on the scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Crete Fortress, the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja are chilling coolly on the coach in the living room with cans of soda in their hands. Kirana had a blue raspberry soda, Camilla had a strawberry soda, Ariana has a grape soda, Talia had an orange soda, and Ezra had a blueberry soda.

"I know a nice memory wiping spell that'll be great for Tony's boys during their football practice." Ariana said, before taking a sip of grape soda.

"Let's just hope that's the last time we see that jerk." Ezra said after he took a sip of blueberry soda.

"Good work, Camilla." Kirana said with a smile. "I just wanted to say..."

"That I've learned my lesson about my temper?" Camilla replied with a grin. "I did, but it still makes me a better and strong fighter."

"Yeah, Camilla." Talia said mischievously. "You're not bad...for a hothead buffalo."

Camilla released out a sly grin and handed her can of soda to Kirana before tackling Talia to the floor and seized her in a headlock, making the orange mage kunoichi recite that Camilla is the best fighter and powerful in every possible way. Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra smiled as they watched Talia flapping her arms helplessly.


	4. Chapter Four

In a dark room, a mysterious female Asian mystic kunoichi was sitting on the floor in some form of meditation. She was a tall and slender woman with flawless skin, long black hair set in a traditional Japanese princess hairstyle, and green eyes. She wore a dark red Chinese sleeveless qipao dress with a slit on the left side that is high to the waist, black rose lace tights, and dark red ankle-strap combat boots. Her face was completely covered by a black metallic mask made of steel.

Suddenly, three Shadow Clan ninjas quietly appeared out of the shadows and walked slowly toward the meditating ninja. With her amazing mystical martial arts skills, the masked kunoichi defeated all three of them easily. Then, a female Korean mystic kunoichi appeared behind the masked mystic kunoichi. She was a very slim figure with fair skin, short hair with black on the left side and grey on the right, and blue eyes. She wore a black sleeveless jumpsuit with dark grey leather attachments and a zipper going down from the neck to the stomach, long dark grey gloves with black elbow and hand protectors, and a pair of black combat boots.

But unfortunately, she wasn't alone. The sound of sliding doors alerted the masked mystic kunoichi and immediately knelt down with respect when a familiar person entered the room.

"Lady Shade." The masked mystic kunoichi greeted.

"I'm surprise that you're using your time very wisely." Lady Shade said.

"Yes, mistress. I've already assembled an army of mystic ninjas and kunoichis from around the world." The masked mystic kunoichi stated. "The Shadow Clan are now at your command."

"Excellent." Lady Shade said. "Because I've also discovered that my old enemy is here in New York. Shiroibara Sage."

"Shiroibara Sage is alive?" The masked kunoichi questioned in surprise.

"And she's training her own children as ninjas as well. I want all of them destroyed." Lady Shade ordered.

"I won't let you down, mistress." The masked mystic kunoichi vowed with a nod.

"I know." Lady Shade informed. "Because you will work together with Sapphire."

"I don't need any help." The masked mystic kunoichi refused as she stood up and glared hard at Sapphire. "Especially from this crazed woman."

"Are you sure, princess?" Sapphire asked tauntingly. "I doubt you'll be needing a lot of help."

"Enough of your pathetic rivalry." Lady Shade said firmly. "Sapphire has experienced with the dark side of the city ever since I've recruited her. You two will work together."

"Don't worry, Lady Shade. We'll find them and wiped them out." The masked mystic kunoichi said with a nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 raced each other across the rooftops for fun while performing various flips as they jumped from one building to another to pull off the best tricks.

"Hey, guys! Check this move out!" Ariana yelled.

Ariana ran past Kirana to jump off the roof with a swift flip and landed on the rooftop of the next building to slid around to face her sisters. Talia smiled as she flipped high in the air and breakdanced onto the building that her older sister was standing on. Ariana applauded to her youngest sister's stunning performance politely.

"Oh yeah, baby!" Talia cheered. "I'm on the roll!"

Ezra smirked as he flipped five times in the air and landed perfectly on the rooftop with his two older sisters. Ariana and Talia applaud for their younger brother.

Kirana and Camilla skidded to a stop at the end of building as they stared at the space between two buildings.

"Top that, ladies!" Ezra said with a grin, making Talia to chuckle.

Ariana smirked as she gestured her hand for her older sisters to take to the challenge.

"Alright then." Kirana said, taking a few steps back. "Check this move out!"

Kirana ran forward and launched herself off the roof to perform a couple swift flips in the air before landing on her feet in front of her younger siblings with a final cartwheel.

"Wicked!" Talia said in awe.

"Whoo!" Ezra said.

"Sweet moves, Kirana!" Ariana grinned.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked back at Camilla, who was cracking her neck and suddenly darted forward at her sisters like a fast rocket. All Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra can do is scream as Camilla crashed into them as a dogpile on the ground. Camilla laughed as her siblings got up.

"Camilla, what the heck was that?" Ariana snapped. "You didn't even do any impressive moves."

"My bad." Camilla grinned with a shameless shrug.

Suddenly, a small sound drew the four girls' attention. Kirana darted forward and leaned against the wall with her siblings close behind. She conjured up a large water shuriken very slowly as her siblings drew their elemental magic powers. The mages jumped out from behind the wall and moved forward to face off against a...small puppy, who looked up at them and barked.

"Keep your head up, Kirana." Camilla mocked, putting a hand on Kirana's right shoulder. "You might actually win this challenge."

Kirana glared at her younger sister and elbowed Camilla's stomach to shut her up.

"How cute!" Talia beamed, holding her hands out to pick up the puppy. "It's a puppy!"

Then, immediately, Talia turned around to hear a female teenager calling out for her pet's name. She quickly got up and walked forward to deliver the puppy to its rightful owner. But unfortunately, her older sisters and younger brother were trying to stop her.

"What are you doing?" Ariana whispered.

"Hey!" Kirana hissed.

"Ellie, wait!" Camilla cried.

"Stop!" Ezra whispered.

"What?" Talia said, turning to look at her older sisters. "I'm just returning this puppy to its owner."

"Are you an idiot?" Camilla snapped. She paused for a second. "Let me rephrase that. You're an idiot!"

"You can't show yourself to a human, Talia!" Ezra said.

"Why not?" Talia asked. "I mean, we looked like humans."

Ariana opened her mouth for a second and realized that Talia has a point on that one.

"Okay, you got me there." Ariana said. "But you can't show your powers to them, they'll freak the heck out!"

"And I'm not. I don't see what your problem is." Talia said confidently.

"You're a short mage kunoichi with magic powers." Camilla pointed out.

"Look, that girl is gonna see that I'm just a normal teenage girl." Talia explained optimistically. "Now, I'll be right back."

"No! Ellie! Wait! Don't!" Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla hissed as they tried to stop their orange mage sister.

But it was too late. Talia jumped off the roof with the puppy on her arms and landed onto the fire escape stairs. Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla leaned over the roof ledge to only watch the whole thing. The girl was still calling for her puppy when Talia landed in front of her.

"Hi!" Talia said brightly as she held out the puppy. "I got your puppy."

"Oh thank you!" The girl said with a relieved smile. "You found my puppy!"

Talia smiled back before she jumped off the fire escape and landed into the ally below. Her siblings couldn't believe their eyes on what just happened and then jumped down from the roof. Even in her kunoichi outfit, Talia still makes an impression. But it was still best to not interact with a human in a true disguise too long.

"Anyone saw that coming?" Talia asked with a grin.

"No." Ariana, Kirana, Ezra, and Camilla replied with deadpan looks on their faces.

"But let's face it." Camilla said cynically. "No human, besides Casey, in this city will never understand you. Obviously, even we don't."

"Yeah." Talia sighed sadly.

Talia knew it has been days since they have battled the Kraang and mutants, but she wondered if she can make one mutant friend for a change. She has this certain of optimism that gives her the full strength to never give up hope. She just secretly wished there's a mutant out there who understood that, a mutant she can talk to, a mutant...more like her. But her plans for a mutant friend will have to wait when she gazed up at the billboard from above.

"But I bet that woman would." Talia said with a grin.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked up to see a billboard on the rooftop above.

"Scarlett von Lake." Kirana said skeptically. "The martial arts superstar. Why?"

"Because she's a martial artist just like me." Talia smiled.

"And?" Ezra said.

"And she's in town for a martial arts expo today!" Talia continued as she pointed back at the billboard. "She can show me her secret move: The Ink Tempest! And I'll show her my secret move: The Hurricane Twist!"

"Catchy name." Ariana said dryly.

"Look, Talia, face the facts." Camilla said, as she stepped forward towards Talia. "Scarlett von Lake is the last person on earth who would be friends with you. Plus, there's no way anyone out there will be ever friends with a mage girl like you."

Talia glared. It never changed the fact that Camilla could show a little respect for her bright optimism. Most of the time, she feels like that Camilla was never trying to support or make her feel better.

"Some big sister you are, Camilla." Talia thought.

The sound of footstep suddenly alerted the K-5 to danger as they found themselves surround by a group of Shadow Ninjas.

"What the? Mages in New York?" Ariana questioned in surprise. "I thought we're the only ones."

The four mage kunoichis and mage ninja eyed every mysterious Shadow Ninjas, who started charging forward to attack the girls. Camilla delivered a barrage of flaming spinning kicks at the incoming Shadow Ninjas, Talia delivered a series of four high-damage wind somersaults to the next group of Shadow Ninjas, Ezra delivered a whole bunch of lightning bolts at a group of Shadow Ninjas, Ariana stomped her feet to the ground to send a hail of boulders rising up on every incoming Shadow Ninjas, and Kirana channeled her water around herself out of thin air and fired the water power as a giant wave forward washing away each Shadow Ninja coming in her way on impact. After all of the Shadow Ninjas are defeated, the masked mage kunoichi from the dojo jumped down into the alley and faced the K-5. She charged forward towards the siblings and delivered several powerful blows on Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra. But Talia swung her swift kick at the masked mage kunoichi, who caught the leg and pulled Talia towards her face.

"How many mages are you?" The masked mage kunoichi asked.

Talia didn't respond and quickly released her leg from the masked mage kunoichi's hand. She spun around and fired a massive beam of wind energy from her palms that send the masked mage kunoichi crashing to the wall. The masked mage kunoichi got up and glared at the siblings, who were getting into defensive positions.

Suddenly, the sound of approaching police sirens interrupted the battle. The Shadow Ninjas, the masked mage kunoichi, and the K-5 quickly retreated just before the police arrived in the empty alley on the scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Kirana stood in the kitchen and told Sage everything that had happened in the alley as she wasn't happy about the loss in battle.

"That mysterious kunoichi leader was amazingly good." Kirana reported. "But for all I know is that it wasn't a fair fight."

"A fair fight?" Sage questioned.

"You know, mother, where either side can win." Kirana replied.

"So, you don't want to assure your victory?" Sage asked.

Kirana nodded, not knowing that her words have conflicted Sage's pragmatic thoughts about battles. Sage tackled the blue mage kunoichi to the ground and her white energized fist pressed against Kirana's throat.

"Was that fair?" Sage asked.

"No." Kirana answered with a groan.

"Did I win?" Sage asked again.

"Yup, I see your point." Kirana admitted with a sigh.

Sage helped her daughter up from the floor to her feet.

"Always seek victory, not fairness." Sage said wisely.

"Hai, mother." Kirana said with a bow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the living room; four mages, one robot, and one human are having a relaxing night. Casey was reading the latest articles in the newspaper, Camilla was doing push-ups with bricks near the entrance of the fortress, Ariana was doing some research on her laptop, Ezra was playing a game console on the couch, Norbit was watching Ezra play his game, and Talia was reading over a magazine that had a picture of Scarlett von Lake on the cover.

"Oh, I wish me and Scarlett von Lake were friends!" Talia gushed as she kicked back in the air and laughed excitedly.

"Ellie, you already have a friend." Casey pointed out with a smug smile. "The one and only Casey Jones."

"I know, but I mean like a friend that acts like me in every way." Talia said, turning back to her magazine.

"Yeah, too bad there aren't any of them who could tell how weird and annoying you both really are." Camilla commented.

Talia rolled her eyes in annoyance and gazed back at her magazine.

"Or she could check the internet." Casey said. "Yo, Ariana, can I borrow your laptop real quick?"

"Oh sure, just a sec." Ariana said nervously.

Ariana quickly changed the screensaver of Casey chilling on the coach into the wallpaper of purple blooming flowers. She got up from the floor and walked over to Casey as she handed her laptop to Casey and sat next to him.

"Check this out." Casey said, tapping on the keyboard as he was unaware to Ariana's shyness. "It's that website where you can make friends with anyone online."

"Cool!" Talia beamed, snatching the laptop from Casey and quickly tapped the key buttons into the search box. "Oh, Scarlett von Lake's on here! She'll be my first friend!"

Talia clicked the friend button and leaned towards the screen as she intently waited to see if Scarlett will accept her as her friend and...she did.

"Wow, that was fast." Casey said surprisingly.

"Yes! Scarlett has accepted my friendship!" Talia said with a smile. She quickly hugged Casey happily and unaware of the horror and surprise coming from Ariana's face. "Thanks, Casey!"

Talia tossed the laptop into the air in seconds and ran off the couch. Ariana darted forward to catch her laptop from hitting the floor and looked up to watch her younger sister running towards the fortress exit.

"And where are you going?" Ezra asked.

"To hang out with my friend, duh." Talia replied casually.

"But this woman's famous, Ellie." Casey said. "She could have hundreds of friends!"

"So could be the great opportunity to study some of her moves." Talia said with a shrug. "Later!"

With that, Talia exited out the Crete Fortress.

"There goes Talia." Norbit said.

"Well, this ought to be good." Casey said.

"Should we go after her?" Ariana asked worryingly.

"Nah, she's gotta learn the hard way." Camilla responded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Talia was strolling on the streets as a normal person. Instead of wearing her mage kunoichi outfit, she wore a light green long-sleeved top with an orange cropped top over it, light green denim jean-shorts with light brown leggings under them, and orange low-heeled boots. She was enjoying the stroll and bright lights of the city until she suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she watched as a large green humanoid mutant turtle ran along the rooftop.

"Who is that?" Talia wondered. "I've got to check it out. This could be my chance to make friends with a mutant."

Talia ran quickly into a nearby alley and twirled her index finger around to turn her clothes into her mage kunoichi outfit without her metallic mask. Going into stealth mode, Talia climbed up to the rooftop and followed the mutant. It looked as if he was headed somewhere. The mutant stopped his feet and Talia quickly hid behind the doorway. The mutant was searching around the rooftop as if he could tell that someone was following him.

"Whew!" Talia thought as she took a deep breath. "I wasn't spotted."

Then, Talia looked down to see a long chain wrapped around her waist. Before she can react, she was suddenly pulled away from her hiding spot as she stumbled into the mutant's arms. The mutant turtle himself has light green skin with freckles, orange mask with shorter tails, and a pair of nunchucks on his strap belt. He also has the same height and eye color as the orange mage kunoichi. Talia and the mutant turtle made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Innocent baby blue eyes—the exact same color that the ocean had carried. Their eyes were sparkled with joy, innocence, and curiosity behind their masks. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their family, their home, their wild side, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the mutant ninja turtle and the mage kunoichi that held them here now.

"Hi." The mutant turtle greeted charmingly.

"Hi." Talia greeted back dreamily.

"Oh, sorry." The mutant turtle chuckled sheepishly as he knew that he's still holding Talia in his arms and released her from his nunchuck chain. "I don't believe I've met a dudette before."

"Oh, yeah." Talia said. "I just can't believe that you're a mutant."

"Wait, you're not afraid of me?" The mutant turtle asked in confusion.

"No, and why would I?" Talia replied. "I'm a mage. I'm used to all mystical creatures around the world. Besides, I think it's cool to meet a friendly mutant."

"What's a mage?" The mutant turtle asked again.

"A sub-race of naturally magic-wielding humans." Talia explained. "We have a natural gift to channel magical energies. So, yeah."

"Well, the name's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey." The mutant turtle introduced with a flirty smile.

"And my name is Talia." Talia giggled.

"Talia? That's a pretty neat name." Mikey smiled.

"Oh, thanks." Talia said with a pink blush on her cheeks. "And I think your name's pretty cool. It's so awesome that you're a mutant."

"Really? Cool!" Mikey grinned dreamily.

As Mikey and Talia stepped closer and gazed into each other's eyes, they both realized that they have something else to do.

"Oh my gosh! I love to stay and chat, but I have to meet someone." Talia said.

"Oh, really? So do I." Mikey said. "If I see you again, we can hang out."

"Sounds good." Talia replied with a wink.

With that, Mikey and Talia went separate ways to meet their friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Talia raced across the rooftops in supersonic speed, she finally made her way to the dojo from the edge of the rooftop and spotted Scarlett von Lake walking out of her dojo to lock the doors below.

"There's Scarlett von Lake! Just like on the Internet!" Talia squealed.

Talia quickly jumped down from the rooftop and landed on the ground in the alley as she quietly stood behind Scarlett, who immediately turned around to face her with a confused look on her face.

"Um, who are you?" Scarlett asked.

"Oh, I'm Talia." Talia introduced happily. "You accept me online as friends, so I came by to see you."

"Oh, that's right. Nice to meet you." Scarlett said calmly. "Please, come in."

Scarlett unlocked the doors and Talia walked inside, but she began to feel something familiar about the happy teenager and she'll keep a close eye on her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later on, the K-5 stood on the rooftop on a lookout for the mysterious masked kunoichi that they fought last night above the same alley they were earlier. Kirana was intent on finding out who exactly is that master masked kunoichi the other night. Also, she was trying to get a successful strategy to battle them again.

"They could have been watching us from here above." Kirana said to Ariana. "This would be the perfect time for coming up a perfect ambush on them."

"But don't you think that's not even fair?" Ariana asked.

"It's about victory and nothing more." Kirana replied firmly.

"I see your point." Ariana said.

"Same here but we've gotta mute the chit chat back there." Ezra said.

Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra turned around to glance Talia, who was talking to Camilla about her meeting with the famous Scarlett von Lake as Camilla was clearly not listening to her youngest sister. She had been talking nonstop about Scarlett for hours, almost giving Camilla a massive headache by hearing all of that.

"Enough already!" Camilla snapped. "You've been going on about Scarlett for three hours!"

"Oh, looks like someone's jealous." Talia said as she moved close into her older sister's face. "You just can't admit that you are wrong, can't you?"

"Oh please, me and wrong don't go in the same sentence." Camilla scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh, yeah? I'm pretty sure my two other sisters and my favorite brother would love to hear about my encounter with Scarlett." Talia said as she put her arms around Kirana and Ariana and gave a ruffled Ezra's hair.

"Not really." Kirana said.

"The silent talk will be much better." Ariana commented.

"Sorry Talia, but we've gotta beat that masked woman who took us down the other night." Ezra stated.

"Fine." Talia said, glaring at Kirana and Ariana. "I got better place to talk to someone rather than you girls anyway."

Then, Talia leapt off the roof and disappeared into the alley.

"I know she did not just ditch us." Kirana said sassily as she narrowed her eyes.

"Now you all did it." Ezra glared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a building rooftop somewhere near the ocean, Talia had summoned three dummies made of solid air on the edge of the rooftop and took a perfect aim to shot several air-based shuriken in a row. Something she must to keep her mind off about her so-called sisters. At least her brother wasn't a total jerk to her.

"Nice aim." A familiar voice called behind Talia.

Talia startled for a moment, but she released a relaxed smile when she spun around to meet the mutant turtle standing behind her.

"Thanks." Talia said with a wink. "I've figured you would find me here."

Just then, a mumbling noise came and Talia looked at her stomach.

"I guess I'm hungry." Talia laughed.

"Let's eat pizza!" Mikey smiled. "Do you like pizza?"

"Yeah!" Talia smiled back. "Pizza is awesome!"

"We have so much in common." Mikey and Talia beamed happily.

After Talia got the pizza from Antonio's and went back to the rooftop, Mikey joined her and the two began to eat pizza together.

"Um, I was wondering how long have you been practicing your powers?" Mikey asked.

"Ever since I was five." Talia answered. "As kids, male mages began having their powers at age six while female mages began having their powers at age five. Ever since I was six, I gained the power of controlling air at my will."

"Wow, that's so wicked awesome!" Mikey grinned with excitement. His grin slowly turned into a frown. "Are you sure it's okay for me being your friend?"

"Of course, Mikey." Talia said with a warm smile. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"It's just my brother Raph thinks I can't be friends with a human or a mage such as yourself." Mikey said.

"Same here. My sister Camilla thinks making friends with a mutant is impossible." Talia scoffed. "But you are my friend and we have to promise to keep our friendship a secret from your siblings and my siblings."

Mikey put his hand on his heart and his other hand in the air.

"I promise." Mikey said with a smile.

Talia smiled and took another bite of pizza.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talia arrived back at Scarlett von Lake's dojo and walked inside in her different outfit once more. She began to notice that the Scarlett kept asking suspicious questions about her siblings and her mother as if Scarlett wants her to share secret information with her, but she must maintain a small amount of secrecy from Scarlett at all cost.

"Hey, Scarlett!" Talia greeted enthusiastically.

"Hello, Talia." Scarlett greeted back. "But before we can get to know each other, I need to know about you. Tell me about...your siblings."

Talia's eyes widened a bit, but she quietly kept her cool in her mind.

"Oh, they're really good gals and a great gentlemen." Talia replied with an innocent smile. She looked down to the floor with a frown. "But only if my sisters can respect me more, other than my brother."

Scarlett was beginning to grow frustrated because Talia kept refusing to give out any information that she need, so she eventually decided to try a new approach.

"Okay, I'll tell you what." Scarlett said. "I will teach you my secret move: The Ink Tempest."

"Ready? Awesome!" Talia exclaimed.

"But you must swear that you must not show to anyone." Scarlett said. "Because it's a symbol of our friendship. Got it?"

"I promise." Talia promised with a nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Crete Fortress, Talia quickly demonstrated the proper movement of the Ink Tempest to her siblings, even though she was promised not to tell anyone about Scarlett's secret move. She did the swift motions with graceful precision that got only Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra interested with impressed looks on their faces. Well, except for Camilla, who was leaning against the large crystalline tree with her bored face and both of her arms crossed over her chest to watch her younger sister ending the move with a proud smile.

"And that's how you do the Ink Tempest." Talia smiled dramatically.

"That was incredible!" Kirana cheered excitedly.

"Yeah, it's both gracefully effective and complex!" Ariana agreed.

"It's a perfect surprise move." Ezra nods.

"And surprisingly, Talia learn exactly how to do it." Camilla remarked dryly.

"Hey! At least, Mikey said I did it perfect!" Talia snapped.

The word "Mikey" surprised Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra real fast.

"You met a boy?" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra said quickly as they moved closer to Talia's face with happy smiles. "Spill!"

Talia gulped and decided to create a lie about Mikey being just a regular person instead of a mutant.

"Oh, well, okay." Talia said with a smile. "His name is Mikey and we have so much in common! We both are super agile, love eating pizza, playing video games, and plus he's super cute!"

"So when can we meet this Mikey?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, I would love for you four to meet him, but Scarlett wants me to meet her old friend." Talia replied quickly.

"You're going now?" Kirana asked.

"Sorry, guys!" Talia said. "You know how it is. I won't be long."

Talia walked out of the dojo and left her older sisters and younger brother alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since that Ink Tempest had inspired the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja, they decided to try and master the secret move for fun. Ariana and Ezra stood aside as Kirana and Camilla took turns on mastering the Ink Tempest.

Sage stepped in the dojo from her room and stopped to witness Kirana succeeding on completing the Ink Tempest move on Camilla with her water-based power, causing her eyes to widen wide in shock.

"Where did you four learn that?" Sage demanded.

Sage's sudden voice made her children turn around and faced their mother immediately.

"Talia learn it from this new friend of hers." Kirana answered.

"Unfortunately, that move comes from Lady Shade." Sage said grimly.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked at each other in shock and disbelief.

"Lady Shade?" Ariana said.

"So you're saying that Scarlett was one of her students?" Ezra asked.

"I'm certain of it." Sage said. "It's the only way she could know that secret move."

"And Scarlett is just pretending to be Talia's friend to get to you." Kirana concluded.

"It all makes sense now!" Camilla exclaimed. "Talia's in trouble!"

Three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja rushed out of the Crete Fortress to rescue their sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Talia went back to the dojo and looked around in the dark room. She was trying to find Scarlett, but she was nowhere in sight.

"That's weird." Talia thought in confusion.

Talia immediately spun around and gasped in fright to see the same masked mage kunoichi that she fought before and an unfamiliar mage fighter at her side. She tried to put up a decent fight on them both, but she was eventually overwhelmed by their amazing combined fighting skills as two mage women stood over the orange mage kunoichi.

"Who are you and what have you done with Scarlett?" Talia demanded.

"What do you mean?" The masked kunoichi said with a giggle. "We already met face to face."

"No, it can't be...!" Talia gasped with wide eyes. "Scarlett?!"

"Good guess." Scarlett smiled as she removed her black metallic mask off her face. "When we first met, I already started to sense a familiar mystic blood rushing within you. And now, you are nothing but bait to my plan."

Sapphire grinned sinisterly and tied Talia up with a dark white plasma energy rope to hang her onto the wall before she and Scarlett walked away out of the dojo. But Talia was shocked as she finally realized that Scarlett and Sapphire are just using her as bait to lure out her siblings and Sage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, the three mage sisters and mage brother had sped their way at Scarlett's dojo and landed swiftly on top of the dojo skylight as they're going into their stealth mode in order to jump in to save their sister. Ariana casted a spell in her mind and her two fingers began to glow in bright purple, using her index and middle fingers together to cut a hole in the glass without a fail. As Ariana reached in the hole to unlock the window, the four K-5 peered through the glass. They saw Talia was tied up on the wall looking very sad and depressed while she was being surrounded and guarded by Shadow Ninjas. The siblings silently entered the dojo and attacked the guarding ninjas with their swift ninja moves.

"Thanks, guys." Talia whispered with a grin.

"Don't worry, we're getting you out of there." Ariana said.

Kirana gazed at the dark white plasma energy rope that tied Talia up and slowly created a small water shuriken star to throw it forward like a Frisbee, cutting the dark white plasma energy rope and released Talia, who landed safety in front of her siblings.

"We gotta go." Talia said. "I'll explain everything along the way."

The K-5 jumped out of the dojo and ran across the rooftops into the streets as they were unaware that they are watched by Scarlett through the night vision binoculars with Sapphire standing next to her and the Shadow Ninjas stood right behind them. Their plan all along was to let Talia be rescued by her siblings in order to follow them home.

"Excellent." Scarlett said.

"Now, we got 'em." Sapphire said with sly smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Scarlett and Sapphire followed the K-5 into the empty building with the Shadow Ninjas, they walked forward to track the siblings down. Now, all the five siblings had to do was wait as they are crouching quietly in the shadows. One by one, the Shadow Ninjas were silently yanked into the dark shadows by Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. Scarlett and Sapphire looked around for anything unusual, but they found the Shadow Ninjas are completely gone. Now all alone, Sapphire lit out a flare to look up to watch their Shadow ninjas hanging unconsciously in ropes from the ceiling of the building main room.

"Show yourselves!" Sapphire called out.

Out of nowhere, Kirana and Camilla came out of the shadows in front of the two mage women with Ariana and Talia coming out of the shadows from behind. Ezra stepped on the right side of the women. All five mage siblings clenched their fists with their elemental magic energies engulfing on their hands in their offensive stances.

"They trapped us!" Sapphire said in realization.

"Let's take them down!" Scarlett shouted.

The battle quickly took on between the K-5 and the Shadow mystics. Scarlett charged forward towards Kirana and Camilla, leaving Sapphire to face Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. Camilla was lying on the floor by a blast of black ink that Scarlett send out. Scarlett was about to approach towards the fire mage kunoichi threateningly. That's when Scarlett begins to notice Kirana was right behind her and grabbed the water mage kunoichi firmly to kick her away into Camilla. Sapphire avoided Ariana's earth energy blasts and then swung a wave of dark white plasma energy at Ariana that threw the purple mage kunoichi flying into Talia, sending the two mage kunoichis falling on the ground. Sapphire smirked as Ariana and Talia got up from the ground but Ezra ran in and attacked Sapphire with his lightning energy. But the fight was just getting started for the K-5. Kirana and Camilla got up and resumed their fight with Scarlett while Ariana and Talia went to help Ezra to resume their fight with Sapphire. Their battle was almost over once the five mage siblings stood their way towards the two evil mage ninjas, who were unaware that the opening hole that has several water pipes was right behind them.

"You five knew that we're hunting you!" Scarlett said in realization.

"That's right." Talia said with a sly smile. "And now it's over."

With that, Talia jumped slightly and delivered several air-based blows to Scarlett with her own kata, kicking her back and knocked her down over Sapphire.

"Hit it, Kirana." Talia called to her oldest sister.

With a nod, Kirana's eyes glowed in bright blue and concentrated on the water pipes from the opening hole. A powerful jet of sewer water began to wash its way to Scarlett and Sapphire, causing them to be swept away in a wave of huge water out of the building with loud screams. After they were gone, Ariana and Kirana walked over to Camilla, Talia, and Ezra with giggles.

"Well, that didn't seem very fair." Camilla smirked.

"I couldn't agree more." Kirana said. "Let's go home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja celebrated their victory with a pizza party and grabbed two slices of pizza as they sat on the coach in the living room. But they noticed that Sage was looking very worried, becoming concerned about their mother's silence.

"Um, mother, aren't you hungry?" Ariana asked, after taking a bite out of her pizza.

"I feel that Lady Shade knows our existence too well." Sage replied wryly. "But worse, she knows about all of you. Our struggle had only just begun."

"And we'll be ready for her." Kirana said firmly.

Ariana and Kirana both nodded in agreement, making Sage smile for her children's confidence. Camilla and Ezra looked over to see Talia sitting on the floor with her crossed legs as she noticed that their sister was still hurting over Scarlett's deception. Ezra looked over to Camilla and gives her pleading eyes.

"Ok, I'll cheer her up." Camilla whispered.

"That's it, Camilla." Ezra whispered.

Camilla stood up and walked over to Talia.

"Hey, Talia." Camilla said, sitting down next to her younger sister. "You okay?"

"No, I'm not." Talia answered with a said sigh. "This is all my fault. I should have known you can never make friends with someone who can endanger us. I know that now."

"Look, don't be so hard on yourself. And besides, you're an awesome gal and you deserve to have better friends like that boy Mikey. After all, he's lucky to have a friend like you." Camilla advised. Then, her voice became deeply serious. "And if you tell the others about this conservation, I'm coming after you."

"Thanks, Camilla." Talia smiled, feeling better from her older sister's words.

"Anytime, sis." Camilla smiled back as she patted her younger sister on the head and walked away back to the others.

Encouraged by Camilla's words, Talia conjured up Ariana's laptop with a snap of her finger and clicked something to unfriended Scarlett von Lake with a triumph grin. The only friend she has now is Mikey. Despite having a mutant as her friend, Talia has so much to learn from him. But sooner or later, she has to tell her siblings about him...someday.


	5. Chapter Five

Sage was in the middle of quiet meditation in the dojo. As a mother and a mentor to her four teenaged daughters and her preteen son, she must channel her martial art abilities throughout the universe. But she was suddenly interrupted by a loud noise coming from outside the dojo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the living room, Talia was standing on the top of a makeshift skateboard ramp while wearing a pair of orange skates. Her plan was to view herself jump her skateboard over her sisters while her brother made a fire hoop for her. She could hear them complaining about how Talia had talked them into her stupid idea. Talia then rode on her skates down the skateboard ramp until Sage walked in the living room with a stern look on her face.

"What's going on in here?" Sage demanded loudly.

Kirana, Ariana, and Camilla quickly jumped on their feet nervously. But they turned around to see Talia still riding on her skates, ending up crashing on them painfully once the ramp fell apart. Ezra moved out of the way before Talia could crash into him.

"How many times have I tell you not to skate around in the fortress?" Sage asked firmly.

"We're sorry, mother." Kirana apologized. She, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra gave the nervous Talia serious looks on their faces. "We've definitely should have known better." She then turned back to Sage. "And we deserve to be punished."

"It doesn't matter." Sage scolded as she placed her hands on her hips. "Because you five are grounded for a week in the fortress. Don't even think about sneaking off."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra groan in disappointment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, the three K-5 are becoming bored by the minute. Kirana was lying on the couch with her tired eyes, Talia was playing her orange handheld game with no happy expression, Ezra was playing catch by himself with a turquoise ball, and Camilla was sitting next to Kirana with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ugh, I can't believe we're stuck in this dump for a whole week!" Camilla complained with a groan.

Then, Ariana ran quickly into the living room from her lab.

"Guys! Remember the other day I was rummaging through the military disposal dump?" Ariana asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra answered in unison.

"Well, I was able to find an incredibly advanced microchip and finally created this." Ariana said with a grin.

Ariana showed out her latest invention to her siblings. It was a shiny, glossy silver oval-shaped music player with a curved surface that has a polished aluminum case and a larger screen. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra immediately got up from the couch as they surrounded Ariana's new high-tech invention.

"Whoa!" Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra said in awe.

"I've invented the most advanced music player in the world! So, who wants to try it?" Ariana asked smugly.

"I do! Toss me the K-pod!" Talia said as she immediately raised her hand in the air.

"The K-pod?" Ariana said with a raised eyebrow.

"K-5. Pod, K-pod." Talia explained with a smile. "So, yeah."

Ariana shrugged her shoulders and handed the K-Pod to Talia, who inserted the vibrant orange earphones into her ears.

"You're really gonna plug a highly advanced music player directly into Talia's head?" Camilla said with a raised eyebrow. She then formed a sinister smile across her face. "Could it melt her brain completely?"

"No, it won't. And even if it did, we'll never know the difference." Ariana said with a confident smile.

As Talia's finger pressed the play button, she started dancing by the sound of pop music grooving through her ears.

"This music is blazing!" Talia grinned.

"Okay, that's it. I gotta get out of here." Camilla declared as she began walking toward the fortress exit.

"And where do you think you're going?" Kirana asked as she followed the red mage kunoichi. "In case you haven't noticed, we're grounded."

"Like I care." Camilla scoffed. "I'm going to find something fun in the city before I go nuts."

"And what could be in your mind that you want to do?" Ezra asked.

"Uh, hello, what about mother?" Kirana asked with a serious face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Because as your leader, no one's going anywhere."

"Well, as your followers, we're going to the city anyway." Camilla argued.

Kirana's eyes widened in surprise when Ariana, Talia, and Ezra started to side with Camilla.

"Besides, mother's asleep and we can get through anything while she's asleep." Ezra said.

"Fine." Kirana replied with a hesitant growl. "But only to lead you three away from trouble."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 were rollerblading on the building rooftops.

"Thanks for installing new songs, Ariana!" Talia shouted as she was rollerskating from a rooftop above her siblings.

"What? What new songs?" Ariana asked confusedly. She swiftly jumped up and landed one hand on Talia's head to examine the K-Pod in realization. "Oh my. The advanced chip is automatically upgrading the K-Pod that can add new songs and applications by the minute!"

"But why is that a bad thing?" Ezra asked.

"Because I didn't create nor program it that way!" Ariana said.

"Keep it down, girls." Kirana chided angrily.

Then suddenly, Kirana fell through a skylight that made her younger siblings halted at the edge of the building to watch their oldest sister from below. Kirana fell straight down to the pool full of swimming electric eels and ran down to the building fire escape before falling painfully to the ground with five electric eels attached to her arms, legs, and waist that shocked her to no end. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra felt sorry for her eldest sister sympathetically while Camilla was smirking gleefully as they all looked over the edge of the building.

"Well, that was entertaining, Kirana!" Camilla called.

"Shut up, Camilla." Kirana groaned.

The K-5 finally arrived at the movie theater. Before the siblings could have fun, Ezra saw someone from his view.

"Afraid movie time will have to wait." Ezra said.

Ariana followed his glance and saw the person.

"Who the heck is that woman?" Ariana asked.

Kirana, Camilla, and Talia followed Ariana's gaze to see an African woman walking from the other side of the TCRI building. She has short black wavy hair, waxy black skin, and a grey rhombus-shaped birthmark on her left eye. She wore a silver metallic qipao dress with black skintight leggings and a pair of silver metallic combat boots.

"I don't know, but she needs a beat down." Camilla said with a sly grin.

"Hold on, Camilla. We don't know that she's gonna do anything wrong." Kirana refused. "Besides, it's my call. I decide who gets a beat down."

Then, the armored woman began rising her hands and released a strong grey energy blast from her palms to open the back door of the TCRI.

"Okay, that woman needs a beat down." Kirana said quickly.

The K-5 jumped down from the building and landed close behind the woman.

"Hey, you! Stay right where you are!" Kirana called out as she summoned water from her arms as tentacles.

"I suggest you run if you know what's..." The woman said threateningly. She spun around and pointed her hands at her opponents until her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed the kunoichis' and ninja's birthmarks. "Wait a minute! You guys are mages just like me!"

"That's right!" Kirana agreed. "And we'll take you down!"

"Well, I'm Donna, mage of technology." The armored woman introduced. "So, let's see what you got."

Donna summoned her magic to full power while Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla summoned their magic to full maximum. Talia then noticed that the battle was about to begin as she quickly took off her earbuds to wrap them around the K-Pod and placed it inside her waist belt before summoning her magic to full capacity.

Now, the K-5 and Donna clashed in a fight.

Fortunately, the battle was almost too easy for the five mages to handle. Talia quickly ran forward and somersaulted over Donna, swinging her leg in a wide-arced air kick. Ariana sped quickly right behind Donna and performed several upside down spinning kicks at her with a simple strong flying upward earth drill kick before landing neatly on the ground. Ezra used his lightning bolts to shock Donna and delivered six upward punches to her face. Camilla had a clear shot and delivered a barrage of vertical spinning kicks at Donna before slamming her to the wall violently. Finally, Kirana finished Donna off by twirling her upside-down body and attacked her with her water legs like helicopter blades. As the armored qipao began to spark out of control, Donna stumbled back and got herself electrocuted that made her collapse to the ground. The siblings lifted the unconscious Donna and placed her lying on the side of the dumpster.

Suddenly, the siblings heard the sound of wailing sirens coming from the police.

"Let's move!" Kirana said.

The K-5 climbed up to the building and teleported back to home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 quietly snuck themselves into the living room and noticed that their mother was still sleeping in her room.

"Well, we made it home!" Ezra smiled.

"Zip it!" Kirana snapped quietly. "It's three in the morning! Tonight was a really bad idea!"

"Will you relax?" Camilla argued with a grin. "We got out there, kicked butt the techno freak, and got back home in one peace. So, what could possibly go wrong?"

Kirana crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head disgustedly.

Unknown to her three older sisters and younger brother, Talia immediately noticed that the K-Pod is missing from her waist belt and remembered that she accidentally dropped it during the fight with Donna. But she has decided to keep this secret from her siblings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the alley, Donna woke up next to the dumpster and found the K-Pod near her right shoe. Her eyes widened in surprise as she was fascinated by the complex and stability from the music player, giving her a sly idea. Donna plugged the K-Pod in her armor qipao and watched as her entire outfit quickly started to upgrade itself into a design far more complex and imposing that made her much stronger and dangerous than ever.

"Extraordinary." Donna said with a sinister smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the K-5 started their morning training in the dojo. Sage kept shouting and yelling strictly at her five children to correct their techniques, but the siblings themselves became tired and drowsy during their trainind. That made their mother very suspicious.

"Yamé!" Sage yelled.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra slowly knelt on their knees in front of their mother.

"Children, is there something you want to tell me?" Sage asked suspiciously. "Because something tells me that you five are tired."

"We're not." Kirana denied quickly.

"No way." Ariana assured with a smile.

"We're fine." Ezra reassured.

"Not a chance." Camilla agreed.

"Absolutely not." Talia yawned.

Then, Talia quickly fell asleep on the floor that made her older sisters and younger brother worry in fear.

"So, you are tired for a randori?" Sage asked. She snapped her fingers and conjured up a familiar wooden sword in her hands. "Try to avoid it...if you can."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra's eyes widened slightly as Talia immediately got up from her sleep. With extreme speed, Sage quickly delivered five powerful blows at her children that sent them flying around the room and landed painfully on the ground in a matter of seconds.

"I hope you all learn that the truth isn't the only thing that hurts." Sage said sternly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 took their time to relax from their mother's randori wrath. Only two mage kunoichis and one mage ninja relaxed in the living room. Ezra was listening to music on his headphones. Kirana was watching Battlestar Matrix in the living room while Camilla was reading her comic book on the couch.

Suddenly, Kirana's favorite show was interrupted by a news story on the screen that caught the mages' attention. Ariana and Talia surrounded the TV screen with Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra as they watched the new bulletin reporting about an armored woman breaking into T.C.R.I. building and stealing the technology for her evil needs. It was Donna! Instead of wearing her silver metallic outfit, she was now wearing a sleek silver and black leotard-like armor with a glowing white circle in the center of the chest.

"How did she upgrade her armor so fast?" Kirana wondered.

The siblings watched closely as the TV screen caught the scene of Donna exiting the TCRI building until they saw the K-Pod attached to the center of her armor with wide eyes. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra turned to glare at Talia.

"She has the K-Pod?" Ariana snapped.

"Oh, yeah, about that. I accidentally dropped it during the fight." Talia explained with a weak smile.

"Well, thanks a lot, Talia!" Ariana shouted with an angry glare.

"It's your fault!" Talia argued.

"How's it my fault?" Ariana asked.

"Because you know I can't be trusted with your awesome inventions!" Talia yelled.

Ariana's eyes went pure purple when two giant rock hands rose from the ground surrounding Talia with no escape. Kirana touched Ariana's left shoulder with her right hand to calm her down, forcing the purple mage kunoichi to make the rocky hands breaking apart to the floor.

"So, Ariana, did the AI chip upgraded Donna's armor the same way it upgraded the K-Pod?" Kirana asked.

"Well, yeah." Ariana said. "If it keeps going, there's no telling how powerful she'll get."

"Okay, this has gone way too far." Ezra said. "We have to tell mother about this."

"And face the wrath of the randori?" Camilla said. "No way. Never gonna happen."

"Look, we beat Donna once, we can beat her again." Ariana said. "All we have to do is track her down, grab the K-Pod and get back home before mother knows anything."

"Agreed." Talia concurred.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 moved across the building rooftops until they found a flickering grey light coming the abandoned warehouse up ahead. They landed upon the rooftop and looked through the window to see Donna practicing on her new advanced armored suit in the center of the room. The K-5 quietly made their way inside the warehouse and surrounded Donna in stealth mode. But unfortunately, Donna's white circle glowed brightly as if it was detecting the mage kunoichis and mage ninja in the room.

"You five again?" Donna said in surprise.

"Alright, Donna, nobody wants to hurt you." Kirana said.

"We don't?" Camilla asked confusedly.

"We just want the K-Pod." Ezra said.

"Give up my incredible source of power?" Donna said in a dangerous voice. She flew up above the K-5 and glared down at them. "Not. A. Chance!"

"Well, let's see if you can break easily last time." Camilla smirked.

The K-5 and Donna charged forward to clash into a fight. Unfortunately for the mages, Donna's new armor was too strong and powerful for them that allowed her to defeat the mage kunoichis and mage ninja easily. Camilla attacked Donna with a giant fireball, but Donna drew back her fist and delivered a powerful punch at Camilla that sent her flying across the room and hit herself straight at the wall. Ariana, Ezra, Kirana, and Talia saw their red mage sister down as they charged forward to strike the techno mage. Donna blasted Ariana and Talia against the wall with her grey energy beams. Donna knocked Ezra into a crate of boxes. Kirana was running towards Donna, dodging from the energy blasts from the techno mage. But Donna unleashed a huge energy beam at Kirana from her hands. The K-5 jumped back with their magic summoned in their hands as Donna cracked her hands hard for the next round. Donna and the K-5 charged forward as they clashed again.

Few seconds later, the K-5 found themselves piled together on the floor in defeat.

"Foolish mages! Did you really think you could defeat me?" Donna laughed evilly.

"Well, yeah." Talia said sassily.

"Well, you're wrong!" Donna grinned sinisterly. "Everyone will feel my wrath!"

Suddenly, Donna saw a bright flash of white light in her chest on her armor and felt the armored suit changing herself as she and the device began to merge into a single enormously powerful entity. Donna stood high above the mages with a malevolent grin.

"What's happening?" Kirana said.

"Donna and the K-Pod." Ariana gasped in a high tone. "They're...merging...into one single entity."

"The Iron-Donna." Talia said.

The K-5 frantically ran out of the warehouse and dashed through the empty street as Donna was soaring right behind them.

"The Iron Donna's chasing us!" Talia shouted.

"We have to split up!" Kirana shouted. "She can't follow us all!"

"If she comes after me, I'll lead her to a trap!" Talia said.

"You sure, Talia?" Ezra asked.

"I'm sure, little bro." Talia replied.

"Okay!" Kirana yelled.

The K-5 did what their leader told them to do. Camilla ran off into the alley. Ariana was gone into another alley. Ezra ran into the third alley. And Kirana sped off to the fourth alley. But Talia kept on running to the next street as Donna went straight after her. Talia continued running away from Donna until she held few pure marble-sized orbs of air energy in her hands.

"I got you now!" Donna shouted.

"I don't think so." Talia said cockily. "Catch!"

Talia threw the air energized orbs that sent them flying towards Donna's face, blocking her eyes when she stopped flying for a minute. Talia followed her three older sisters and younger brother back home after escaping from Donna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 snuck into the living room with many bruises on their bodies. But suddenly, the lights were turned on and Sage was standing at the center of the living room with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Mother!" Kirana squealed.

"And where have you five been?" Sage demanded.

"Nowhere." Ezra replied nervously.

"How did you get so hurt?" Sage questioned, looking at the bruises on her daughters and son.

"Oh, that, um, we were, um..." Kirana stammered.

"Hit..." Camilla said weakly.

"By a..." Ariana said.

"Cow?" Talia finished.

Sage raised a skeptical eyebrow and Talia grinned nervously. Kirana and Camilla rolled their eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Hit by a cow?" Ariana hissed. "That's your best idea!"

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" Talia retorted.

"Enough!" Sage shouted, halting the glaring stare from Ariana and Talia. "Tell me what happened."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the dojo, the K-5 kneeled on the floor as they explained the whole truth thing to their mother.

"I am still highly disappointed in you all." Sage said sternly. "The first rule of being a ninja is do no harm. Unless you mean to do harm, then do lots of harm!"

"You're right, mother." Kirana said slowly. "We did mess up. Big time."

"Yes, you must stop this...Iron Donna." Sage agreed.

"But, mother, that woman's already kicked our butts." Ariana said.

"And now she's even more powerful compared to our magic." Ezra agreed.

"You need to rely in your ninja training because force is never the answer." Sage answered firmly.

"But how do we stop her, mother?" Kirana asked.

"Simple. You do not fight the armor, but you fight the woman inside." Sage explained.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra exchanged glances with each other before looking at Talia with sly grins. The orange mage kunoichi looked at her older sisters and younger brother with a nervous face.

"Um, why are you guys looking at me?" Talia asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, three mage kunoichis and mage ninja waited for the Iron Donna coming to them on the building rooftop.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Ariana asked.

"Like mother said, don't fight the armor, fight the woman inside." Kirana said confidently. "And one thing we know about bad guys? They love chasing Talia."

Talia successfully led the Iron Donna back to her siblings and halted in front of them with a panic look on her face.

"Guys! Iron Donna's got...!" Talia cried. "Missile bombs!"

The K-5 detected ten missiles flying towards them and scattered away when the missiles hit right at their standing position. The mages surrounded Donna and whirled chains out of magic around the techno mage, pinning her arms and legs in their grasps effectively. Donna snapped the chains that made Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra fall off the building to the next rooftop. After quick minutes of fighting, three mage kunoichis and mage ninja had distracted Donna long enough for their next plan stage.

"Any last words?" Donna said menacingly.

"Just one." Kirana said. "Eels."

"Gangway!" Talia cried, sliding down an electric cable on her feet.

Talia jumped up high in the air and threw a bunch of eels into the Donna's face. The eels' powerful electric shocks caused Donna to lose control of herself, making her reveal the K-Pod on her chest that caught Kirana's eyes. One by one, the mages delivered powerful kicks that knocked Donna off the building backwards. Donna groaned in defeat and her eyes widened wide when she saw Kirana standing right in front of her. Kirana crashed the K-Pod with water claws on her fingers and removed it from the techno mage's suit. Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra landed next to Kirana victoriously.

"So, we'll call it a tie?" Donna chuckled nervously.

"Wanna call it a tie, Camilla?" Kirana asked with a sly smile.

"Not yet." Camilla smirked.

Camilla lifted Donna up and tossed her into the nearest dumpster.

"Now it's a tie." Camilla said, slamming the opening door hinge shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Crete Fortress, the K-5 sat on the floor in the dojo in front of their mother.

"You all showed wisdom and great skill in defeating the Iron Donna." Sage smiled. "I'm proud all of you."

"Does this mean we're not grounded anymore?" Kirana asked hopefully.

"Yes." Sage replied.

Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, Camilla, and Talia smiled as they cheered excitedly in the room.

"But first..." Sage said, conjuring up a wooden sword. "Randori!"

The K-5 fled away from their mother in a screaming panic.


	6. Chapter Six

Inside the Kraang facility, the K-5 was fighting against the Kraang droids.

"Keep moving! Don't let them surround you!" Kirana shouted as she was dodging neon pink energy lasers. "Failure is not an option!"

"Technically, failure is always an option, Kirana!" Ariana said.

"You know what else is an option?" Camilla snapped at the purple mage kunoichi. "Hitting you!"

"Talia, on the right!" Ezra shouted to the orange mage kunoichi.

"Got it!" Talia replies her brother.

The K-5 quickly darted forward to attack the Kraang droids and dodged the incoming neon pink energy lasers at the same time. They then huddled together when they saw a large tank rolling into the room that carried a large, powerful energy cannon.

"Guys, stand your ground!" Kirana ordered. Her eyes widened wide in surprise when she saw the cannon powering itself up. "Never mind. Run!"

The cannon released a massive neon pink laser blast that made the four mystic kunoichis scatter away. Ezra, Talia, Ariana, Camilla, and Kirana jumped and dodged each laser blast that was coming in their direction until they backed up against the wall in their defensive positions.

"Kraang, destroy the ones who are called the K-5 when that which is the signal is the signal given by me." One Kraang droid said to the alien robot in charge of the cannon.

With a sly grin, Kirana created several well-coordinated water shuriken between her hands and released them bouncing off the metal clanging until all of them hit the laser cannon that knocked both Kraang droids off the tank, causing the cannon to explode with the Kraang droids around it and forcing the Kraang brains to abandon their robotic bodies.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra climbed out of the window as they landed on the ground outside. Before they can congratulate themselves on their victory, they spotted Ariana dragging broken robotic body out through the window.

"Uh, guys, a little help?" Ariana said as she was shaking the robot body on her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camilla carried the heavy robotic body to the rooftop on her back as Ariana, Ezra, Kirana, and Talia climbed up to the building in front of them.

"So, remind me again why am I carrying this thing?" Camilla asked.

"Because I want to create a loyal advanced weapon that will serve as a powerhouse at our side." Ariana explained.

"I thought I was the team's powerhouse." Camilla said as she dropped the robotic body to the rooftop ground.

"True, but we need extra powerhouse if the Kraang plans something that not even you can defeat." Ariana replied.

"That's true." Camilla admitted with a shrug.

"Let's teleport." Kirana said.

The K-5 formed a circle with the robotic body in the center and closed their eyes as their combined magic teleported them to the fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the K-5 were relaxing themselves in the living room. Talia was reading her sport magazine, Camilla was feeding her cat Samson, Kirana was watching TV, Ezra was playing a game on his console, Norbit was watching tv next Kirana, and Ariana was examining the robotic alien droid apart. Their best friend Casey was playing app game on his K-Phone next to Camilla.

"This alien technology is nothing I've ever seen before. Almost like a melee weapon from mystic scrolls from ancient times." Ariana said. She pulled something out of the robotic body and held the small piece of technology in front of her face with an exciting smile. "I can't wait to study it!"

Sage levitated into the living room that made Ariana look up when the white mage observed her business.

"Oh, hi, mother." Ariana said. "I was wondering if I can upgrade this machine into my weapon."

"Hm, very interesting." Sage said with small smile on her face. "Many scientific mages upgraded and adapted their arsenal for many generations."

"Even using modern technology?" Ariana asked.

"Of course, and you may upgrade the machine into your weapon." Sage replied.

"But that's not fair! You just say...!" Ariana shouted disappointingly until she heard what her mother just said. "Wait, what?"

"I said yes." Sage repeated.

"Great!" Ariana said excitedly as she jumped on her feet. "With this technology, I can advance every limitless possibilities."

"But remember technology is a means, not an end." Sage warned as she watched Ariana gazing at the droid with excitement in her daughter's eyes. "You and your skills must prevail in battle, not your weapon."

"And that's the solution!" Ariana said, picking up the droid on her back and looked back at Sage. "I'll turn this machine into a combat weapon! Thanks, mother!"

Then, Ariana closed her lab door and began working on her newest invention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, Casey sat on the couch and searched for videos on his K-Phone. He instantly found a strange video that has something to do with the Kraang.

"Hey, guys!" Casey called. "Check out this video I've found!"

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra walked towards Casey to join him on the couch.

"So, what's up, Case?" Camilla asked.

"I've found a video that can track down the Kraang." Casey explained. "Check it out."

Casey pressed a button on the screen and pulled up a link video that showed a familiar alien droid walking through the smoke of a blowup explosion.

"It is a Kraangdroid." Norbit said, walking over to his friends.

"We'll check it out tonight." Kirana said.

"But why not now?" Casey questioned.

"Even though it's daytime, we still must train for our next mission." Talia explained.

"Well then, I'll do it." Casey said as he placed his K-Phone into his pocket.

Casey marched towards the fortress exit with his gear, but Ezra stood in front of him to prevent him from leaving.

"Casey, think about this." Ezra said. "It could be dangerous."

"Ezra, this is Casey Jones you're talking about." Casey said. His voice suddenly became threatening. "But there's no way you're standing between me and my job as a full force vigilante."

Casey's serious look was enough to stand up against Ezra, who sighed in defeat and put his hands up defensively and stepped aside. Casey exited out the fortress with a victorious smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, three mage kunoichis, a mage ninja, and a robot friend were minding their own business in the living room until they heard heavy steps echoing through the fortress. Kirana and Camilla immediately turned to see what was causing the ground to shake while Talia and Ezra jumped behind the couch in a panic. Norbit just turned his head and saw something coming from the lab. They watched as a 209cm marionette puppet-like automation entering the living room. She has short light blond hair, green eyes with two-line crack on each, two big golden rings on each side of her hat, and metallic hands have sharp, hooked protrusions on the fingertips. She also wore silver-and-purple dress with slits up the sides and a pair of purple ankle high-heeled boots.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen." The puppet robot greeted in a firm feminine tone.

"Hey, girls! Check this out!" Talia called, popping her head behind the couch followed by Ezra.

Kirana and Camilla approached the robot up close as they saw Ariana sitting on the robot's left shoulder with a proud smile.

"What the heck is that thing?" Kirana asked.

"Ladies, brother, and Norbit, I presented you the future of mages and ninjutsu!" Ariana announced, waving her hand to present the robot.

"And here I thought the future of ninjutsu will be more combative." Camilla commented.

"It is another robot." Norbit said, after scanning the new robot.

"But she's amazing!" Talia said, running in front of the puppet robot. "Even though she looks like a doll."

"Doll?!" The puppet robot snarled.

The robot's eyes flashed and lifted her arms in a threatening position as she extended both of her hands into heavy razor-sharp claws. Talia fell over to the floor with a loud, shocking scream while Lee, Camilla, and Ezra looked surprised on what the robot just did.

"Heh, she doesn't like that word." Ariana explained with a slight smirk.

"Now it's more like a cyber princess." Ezra whispered to Norbit.

"Also, I've created Phantom from reversing engineered her from the Kraang droid."

"Okay, why?" Kirana asked skeptically.

"So, Phantom can be our combat guardian to help or assist." Ariana explained. "But only I can command her at will."

"Look, Ariana, I don't need a robot to fight my battles." Camilla snapped before turning to Norbit. "No offense, Norbit."

"I am a robot. I cannot be offended." Norbit said.

"Uh, Ariana, this might not be the best way to improve your fighting style." Ezra said.

"But it can improve the ways of ninjitsu." Ariana replied.

"Ezra might have a point. Besides, she's taking the point out of being a mage kunoichi." Kirana stated.

"It's exactly the point of being a mage kunoichi." Ariana said. "We adapt to the society."

"But we can also adapt with potential." Ezra said.

"Potential can also adapt with or without technology, bro." Ariana reassured. "Now watch this."

Ariana jumped off Phantom's shoulder and sat on the couch with excitement while Phantom got into her fighting stance with narrow eyes.

"Attack me." Phantom challenged. "Get me all you got."

"With pleasure!" Camilla said.

Camilla approached Phantom and charged forward with flames engulfing her hands. She leapt high into the air and dove down to deliver two flaming punches directly at Phantom. But Phantom's right hand suddenly grabbed both Camilla's fists and slammed the red mage kunoichi on the ground several times before tossing her away to the wall. Ariana laughed in enjoyment, but she quickly stopped to see Kirana and Talia attacking the robot with various kicks and punches. Both Kirana and Talia's attacks weren't even overpowering the marionette robot. With a sly grin, Phantom suddenly grabbed Talia's left arm and the Kirana's right leg, pulling the girls towards each other to knock their heads together. Phantom swiftly kicked Kirana away, sending the blue mage kunoichi to slam into the semiconscious Camilla. Finally, Phantom punched Talia to land on top of her older sisters. Ezra ran up and attacked Phantom with his fast kicking, but they were no effect to the robot. Phantom grabbed Ezra's arms and swung him around and threw him to Norbit, who caught his best friend in his arms.

"Phantom kicked your butt!" Ariana taunted as she stood over her defeated sisters. "Face it, guys. With Phantom on my side, none of you will stand a chance."

Ariana noticed that Sage was walking into the living room with a sideway glance and immediately sped up to her mother with a huge smile.

"Hey, mother! Can Phantom come with me on my mission?" Ariana asked.

"Of course." Sage said firmly. "Your creation has been proven herself as a powerhouse in battle with amazing stealth and mobility, but only uses it wisely."

"I intend to." Ariana smiled as she casted a side glance to Camilla, Kirana, Talia, and Ezra.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 and Norbit rode on the left and right shoulders of Phantom, who was running and hopping on each rooftop while surveying the area. Ariana programmed her marionette robot to check the area of the gas explosion from Casey's K-Phone. Even though Phantom is a heavy robot, she's very light on her feet. As Phantom jumped down onto the roof, the K-5 and Norbit looked over the edge of the building and detected Casey walking inside the alley. The mage kunoichis, mage ninja, and robot friend got off the robotic puppet and landed around their human friend.

"Right time, mages and Norbit!" Casey said.

Suddenly, Phantom landed in the alley right next to Casey and looked down at the human vigilante.

"Cool!" Casey grinned. "What is it?"

"My latest brilliant creation Phantom." Ariana said proudly.

"Pleased to meet you, Casey." Phantom greeted sweetly. "Ariana programmed me to know all about you."

"Impressive, Ariana." Casey smiled.

"Thanks." Ariana said with a blush.

"But we've got a bigger problem!" Casey informed. "The Kraang are gonna poison the city's water supply with mutagen!"

"The whole city will become a big disaster area." Ezra said shockingly.

"There will be mutants everywhere." Norbit said.

"Wow, we make friends with them!" Talia smiled as she was hugging Phantom with excitement.

Casey, Kirana, Ezra, Camilla, and Ariana stared at the orange mage kunoichi crossly. Even Phantom looked down at Talia with a stern look.

"Well, excuse me for being so optimistic!" Talia said defensively.

"Let's go!" Kirana said.

Kirana began running towards the Kraang facility with Camilla, Talia, and Ezra following behind her. Ariana hopped on her robot's neck and was ready to show the Kraang droids what Phantom's capable of.

"Yeah! Those Kraang don't stand a chance!" Ariana cheered excitedly.

That made Ariana's four siblings froze at the sound of the robot's heavy walk right behind them. Kirana spun around and stopped the robot with her right hand.

"What?" Ariana asked.

"Ariana, you need to hang back for a second with Casey and Norbit." Kirana said firmly. "Phantom is just too powerful. You two will have to wait for a counter attack."

"You can't be serious." Phantom said with an angry face. Her long arms accidentally knocked over the nearby trash cans. "That was to emphasize my point."

"You two are not coming." Kirana said.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra took off down the alley. Casey looked back at Phantom and placed a hand on her arm. Ariana did the same. All Phantom can do is slump herself. Norbit walked over to Phantom and hugged her in comfort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra arrived at the gas plant as they crouched on the second floor above the first floor in the Kraang facility. They watched as the Kraang droids loading a bunch of mutagen for their current agenda.

"Alright, guys. Ready for this?" Kirana whispered with a grin.

"Oh yeah." Camilla grinned with a nod.

"You know I am." Talia grinned with a wink.

"It's go time." Ezra grinned after popping his knuckles.

"Let's go." Kirana said.

Three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja leapt down from above and instantly took down every Kraang droids in their sight. They took down a large group of Kraang droids as they were aware that two alien robots were carrying the mutagen in their hands.

Suddenly, the mages spotted the Kraang droids powering their laser guns behind them. The alien robots fired out a barrage of neon pink energy lasers, causing the three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja to dodge the lasers swiftly and jump behind the crates. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra got up to summon their elemental magic to fight the Kraang droids until something caught the blue mage kunoichi's eyes.

"Um, guys, we have a big problem!" Kirana exclaimed, pointing her finger at the same laser cannon she and her siblings saw before.

The mages watched as one Kraang droid was operating the laser cannon at their direction.

"Oh, crud." Camilla and Talia gulped.

"Scatter!" Ezra alerted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Casey was sitting on the edge of the building and stared down at the Gas Plant facility while Ariana was sitting on the right shoulder of her robot. Phantom's head slowly turned to her creator and caught her gazing dreamily at the human vigilante, who was focused on the mission.

"Look at him. He's so handsome." Ariana muttered. "Even he can't tell I'm staring at him."

"You do know I can hear you from here, right?" Casey informed, staring at the purple mage kunoichi.

"Oh, of course." Ariana giggled nervously. "I knew that."

"Ariana, your hormonal and neural transmission levels are at an large percentage. Diagnosis: Blushing." Norbit said after he scanned Ariana, who looked at him with wide eyes.

"Norbit, I'm fine." Ariana said quickly.

"So how do think the fight's going?" Phantom asked seriously.

Suddenly, Phantom grabbed Casey in her arms and hopped off the edge of the building in the air when a large pink energy laser blast flying from the facility wall to where they were standing on. Phantom landed back on the rooftop and gently put Casey and Ariana down while Norbit walked over and looked down. Then, the four friends looked down at the building and heard Talia yelling out loud.

"Ariana! Casey! Norbit! Phantom! They're everywhere! Help us!" Talia screamed from the warehouse.

"My scan indicates that they are in trouble." Norbit said.

"Not great." Casey replied to Phantom. He formed a devilish smirk and took out his wooden hockey stick. "Let's do this!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Gas Plant facility, the Kraang droids got three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja trapped as Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra are forced to take cover and hid behind crates.

"This is ridiculous!" Camilla shouted as she was peeking out of the crates. "We're outmatched."

"We're trapped!" Kirana said.

"Let's see if my air bomb will work on them." Talia said.

Talia opened her left palm and created a medium sized compressed bomb made of air. She peeked over the crate and threw her air bomb at the Kraang droids that exploded at them instantly, but that wasn't enough as more Kraang droids continue to fire neon pink energy lasers at Talia, who immediately ducked back to the crates.

"Nope! We're doomed!" Talia said quickly.

Suddenly, everyone heard the crashing of hard glass through the ceiling above. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra saw Phantom landing heavily on five Kraang droids as Ariana, Casey, and Norbit quickly jumped off on the robot's shoulders before getting into their fighting stances.

"What are you four doing?" Ezra demanded as he was looking at the four friends along with Kirana, Camilla, and Talia.

"We heard Talia's screaming and so we're here." Casey replied.

"Phantom, do your thing." Ariana ordered her robot.

"Gladly." Phantom nodded.

Phantom looked around at the surrounding Kraang droids that had powered up their laser guns in their hands. The marionette robot thrusted her arms forward as spinning drills that quickly took down the Kraang droids one by one.

"Whoa, Ariana, you really hooked your robot up." Casey said in amazement.

"It's how I roll." Ariana smiled.

The five mages, one robot friend, and one human vigilante watched as Phantom took down half of the Kraang droids with rapid succession with her spinning arm drills. Then, Phantom turned herself into a buzzsaw that sliced the Kraang droids down in her way before returning to her creator. Phantom continued to attack the Kraang droids with her mighty abilities when Ariana and Casey fought the other surrounding alien robots, who were trying to get to the four mage kunoichis and one mage ninja. Unaware of the heroes, one beatdown Kraang droid watched the marionette robot's fighting styles and the alien brain sneakily crawled out of its robotic body to get itself to Phantom.

"You guys alright?" Casey asked as he, Ariana, and Norbit went to check on Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra.

"Yeah, we're fine." Kirana replied as she and her two younger sisters and younger brother moved away from the crates.

"Everyone...if you can...hear me...run!" Phantom called through her static voice.

Everyone turned to find Phantom standing before them with a Kraang brain attach to her head, making them get in their fighting stances.

"Oh no." Norbit said.

"The ones which are called the K-5 will now be...destroyed!" Kraang-Phantom said threateningly as she slowly approached the heroes.

"Ok, this is not good." Talia said fearfully.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey charged forward to fight against Kraang-Phantom with everything they got. Unfortunately, the Kraang-controlled Phantom defeated them by running forward and striking the heroes with powerful punches, kicks, and slashes. The K-5, Casey, and Norbit are now outmatched when evil Kraang-Phantom was surrounded by more Kraang droids that are aiming their laser guns at their opponents.

"Which one of the K-5 wants to be first to be destroyed by Kraang?" Kraang-Phantom spoke cruelly.

"Me!" Ariana declared as she walked in front of her team. Her sideway eyes turned to her siblings and her friends. "You guys deal with the alien droids! I'll handle Phantom!"

"Easier said than done!" Talia cried.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey attacked the rest of the Kraang droid while Ariana went to fight Kraang-Phantom. Three mage kunoichis, one mage ninja, one robot friend, and a human vigilante defeated all the alien robots with strength and speed before turning their heads to the purple mage kunoichi and the marionette robot. Ariana performed a series of strong ninja kicks at her robot and finally delivered a fast combination of powerful punches with her earth fists. With the Kraang-controlled Phantom defeated, Ariana ripped the alien brain off from her robot and kicked it away to the wall, leaving it unconscious to the ground. Phantom started to regain her free will again and stood next to her creator.

"Good job, sis!" Talia said.

"Awesome, Ariana!" Ezra cheered.

"Nice work, Ariana." Lee said with a grin.

"That was radical, Ariana!" Casey smiled.

"That was very successful." Norbit said.

"Yeah, not bad." Camilla grinned. "Except the part that you build Phantom in the first place. And the part where she lost control to the Kraang. And the part where it tried to kill us! And don't forget the part..."

"Okay, okay, Camilla! Shut up already!" Ariana snapped.

"Is this what you have to deal with?" Phantom asked.

"You have no idea." Ariana scowled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Camilla was playing arcade game in the game room with Kirana and Camilla watching while Ariana and Phantom were sitting together on the empty couch discussing on upgrading new weapons for the future missions. Ezra was sitting on his bean bag chair while writing on his journal.

"I'm surprised that you have become responsible with Phantom." Sage said as she approached Ariana and Phantom in the living room. "But I've very proud of you for being very responsible on saving the ones you cared about."

"Thanks, mother." Ariana smiled as she looked up at her mother.

Ariana stood up and watched Phantom holding a white mini bird-shaped robot with two small missile cannons on the back in her hands. Ezra looked up and noticed her sister and Phantom with the cannons.

"But that doesn't stop us from testing the Laser-Guided Missile Launching robot." Ariana said.

"Uh, sis?" Ezra asked. "Make sure that you don't-."

But it was too late. Phantom accidentally turned the mini robot on with the button and immediately placed it on the floor as she, Ariana, Ezra, and Sage were watching the little machine malfunctioning. That made Kirana, Talia, and Camilla spun around to watch the bird robot flying in the air with the cannons lock and load in medium size.

"This can't be good!" Ariana said, turning to her sister with her eyes widened in shocking alarm. "SCATTER!"

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra quickly ran away in fear.


	7. Chapter Seven

In the dojo, Ariana and Talia were training each other in the art of Seoe Nage as Sage was watching them near the large tree. Talia stretched confidently as Ariana set herself up in her offensive stance and ready to come at her younger sister. But this time, they are training each other without using their powers. As soon as Talia was done stretching, Ariana charged forward and swung her leg at her younger sister. But Talia dodged swiftly with a backflip. Ariana delivered several rapid kicks at Talia, who kept backflipping on each kick that her older sister had provided. With a few neat flips, Talia landed on the floor with a smirk.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Ariana said with an exasperating scowl. "You can't defend Seoe Nage with backflips!"

"And why not?" Talia grinned. "They are very defensive."

"Because you're supposed to follow Seoe Nage the exact same instruction of how to do it." Ariana explained with a stern look on her face. She turned to Sage for support. "Mother, what would you do if someone tried to throw you with Seoe Nage?"

"With the training you two did, I don't know." Sage said simply. "But if you think too much of what it's coming, then you will lose focus to your sight. You must learn how to fight without thinking."

"And why would I do that?" Ariana questioned.

"You'll see." Sage replied. "Just remember when you are in a hard battle, fight without thinking. Because you thought someone makes their move, try not to think of it as possible."

As Sage walked into her room, Ariana felt deeply confused as Talia stood next to her with a cocky grin.

"Hey, do you know what would've worked there?" Talia told Ariana. "Backflip!"

Ariana sighed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the lab, Ariana was mapping her lilac touchscreen with her fingers. She stopped typing on the touchscreen when shockwaves were traveling up her body towards her brain that were moving out from Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra's walking steps.

"Hey, guys." Ariana greeted as she continued typing on the touchscreen.

"How do you know we were walking in?" Talia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because of my seismic scenes." Ariana replied.

"Oh, yeah." Camilla said in a low tone.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra looked over Ariana's shoulders to see that she was making a flowchart of multiple plans and ideas on the touchscreen.

"So, what'cha up to, Ariana?" Kirana asked.

"Just finishing my master plan." Ariana answered as she continued typing on the touchscreen.

"For what?" Camilla said.

"To get Casey to hang out with me." Ariana replied.

"Ariana, just ask him if he can hang out with you. That's the easiest thing to do." Ezra said.

"It it, Ezra. But, as you can see, it's not that simple. That's why I'm making an elaborate flow chart plan to maximize my every possible responses for success." Ariana said.

"I detect confidence in your voice and also nervous systems in your brain. To help, I will give you a hug for emotional support." Norbit said, walking over to Ariana.

"Don't worry, Norbit." Ariana said as she signaled she is fine with her hands. "I got this. No problem."

Ariana expanded her touchscreen into a large size as Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra stared at the flowchart with collective laughs.

Suddenly, Casey came walking in the lab with his hands in his pocket.

"Sup, guys!" Casey called out.

Ariana quickly shrank her touchscreen to normal size and hid her flowchart away from the screen.

"Hey, Casey." Ariana greeted with a casual grin.

"Ariana, let me borrow your touchscreen." Casey said. He held Ariana's touchscreen and pressed play on a news report video clip. "You guys have got to check this video out."

"The city's renowned neurochemist, Doctor Taylor Whitman, has been reported missing." The news reporter said. "I'm now speaking with Doctor Whitman's colleague, Dr. Vela North."

The K-5 watched as the camera turned to a skinny woman. She has a tall and very slim figure with tanned skin, long platinum blonde hair, and green eyes. She wore a lab coat over a black dress and a pair of diamond earrings.

"When I hadn't heard from Whitman in days, I wen to stop by her lab." Dr. Vela North said. "The place was a mess, and...She was gone. I...hope she's okay whenever she is."

Then, Casey pressed pause on the video clip.

"So, what's your point?" Camilla said.

"The point is that the Kraang must be behind this." Casey explained. "We all know that they have been kidnapping scientists from all over the city. So, I'm going to that lab for scooping about this Whitman woman."

"Casey's right." Ariana said. "And I'll volunteer to go with him."

Ariana grabbed Casey's arm and ran quickly out of her lab with him.

"I bet that wasn't even on her brilliant flowchart." Kirana said with a chuckle. She held Ariana's touchscreen in her hand and examined the flowchart with wide eyes. "Whoa, she really actually planned this."

Camilla, Talia, and Ezra leaned forward behind their oldest sister to see some nice sketches of Ariana and Casey investigating together.

"I don't know if I should be creep out or somewhat impress." Kirana said slowly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Casey and Ariana arrived at the apartment building from the rooftop. They quietly snuck inside the lab through the window and began looking around to see nothing but darkness. Casey turned on his flashlight to see the entire place was a wreck. Ariana looked at the research papers on the desk from the other side of the room as Casey checked the drawers and opened the bottom one to find a glowing light blue mutagen canister. As Casey stared curiously at the mutagen, Ariana narrowed her eyes in a sideway glance when shockwaves were traveling up her body towards her brain from someone's movements sneaking up on her with a baseball bat. Ariana quickly spun around and pinned the woman down with her earth magic. Casey finally found the light switch and turned the lights on that revealed the woman that was trying to attack Ariana was Dr. Vela North.

"Dr. North!" Casey exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, sorry, Dr. North." Ariana said in a calm tone.

Ariana helped Dr. North up on her feet as Casey walked in front of the scientist.

"So, what are you kids doing here?" Dr. North retorted.

"Don't worry, we're here to help." Casey said with a smile.

As Dr. North was sitting on her chair, she explained to Ariana and Casey that the Kraang bribed Whitman into experimenting with the mutagen and that she used it on a chameleon she kept as a pet. Ariana then concluded that the chameleon must have broken free and taken Whitman or worse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Ariana and Casey stood on the building rooftop.

"I still don't know how are we gonna find Whitman without any clues." Casey wondered.

"Well, we can learn more once we check her flash drive." Ariana replied.

"Flash drive?" Casey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The one that I swept from her desk." Ariana grinned as she took out a flash drive from her waist belt.

"Slick move, Ariana." Casey complimented.

"Yeah, it's kinda what I do best." Ariana said with a causal smile.

Suddenly, a female mutant chameleon appeared on the edge of the rooftops right in front of Ariana and Casey. She has pink reptilian skin, gold eyes, and short lavender hair, and a coiled tail. She wore a black skintight bodysuit with black fingerless gloves and black metallic boots with white accents. As the chameleon mutant hissed dangerously, Ariana and Casey got into their fighting stance.

"Ready to have some fun, Ariana?" Casey asked with a smile.

"Ready when you are!" Ariana smiled back.

Ariana fought the mutant chameleon with her earth magic, but the chameleon mutant managed to dodge Ariana's incoming magic attacks. The chameleon mutant managed to wrap Ariana tight with her tail and mercilessly smashed the purple mage kunoichi into the ground until she tossed away past Casey. Ariana was knocked out cold to the ground that left Casey the only one standing. The chameleon mutant slithered forward towards Casey, who was hitting several explosive hockey pucks at the mutant. But the chameleon mutant broke Casey's hockey stick in two and grabbed him in the air with her tail with a harsh hiss.

Then, Casey noticed that the chameleon mutant was starting to calm down.

"Look...it's okay." Casey said softly. "I know you're scared, but I can help you if you just trust me."

With a calm mind, the chameleon mutant slowly released Casey from her grasp. She stared at Casey one last time and disappeared from the rooftop in camouflage mode.

Then, Casey ran over to pick up Ariana in his arms and skated his way off the building rooftop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Talia and Kirana were watching Battlestar Matrix while Camilla was brushing Samson's fur smoothly. Ezra was reading a comic book while Norbit was watching television. But they quickly saw Casey carrying the bruised Ariana with his arms into the living room. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit got up as they ran over to see several painful bruises on Ariana.

"Oh no, what happened to her?" Ezra asked, worriedly.

"Ariana got beat up by a lab chameleon mutant." Casey explained.

"Casey, give her on ice pack." Kirana said.

Casey gently placed Ariana on the couch and sprinted into the kitchen with Ezra and Norbit, leaving three other mage kunoichis to watch over Ariana in the living room.

"Ariana, are you okay?" Talia asked with a worry face.

"Yeah...I'll be fine." Ariana replied in a painfully strained voice.

"I can't believe you got beat up by a chameleon in front of your boyfriend and you didn't use the psychic communication spell to contact us?" Camilla snapped.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ariana snapped back. "That chameleon was a vicious mutant!"

"Ariana's right." Casey spoke. He walked over towards Ariana with the ice pack and sat down to placed her head on his lap while holding the ice pack to her head. "Besides, that mutant has the ability to camouflage itself when she fought us. What do you three expect?"

"Well, Ariana should get her rest." Kirana said. "Until she recovers, we'll get to the bottom on that vicious mutant."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Phantom was massaging Ariana's back to soothe the pain. Ariana was lying her stomach on the couch as she couldn't believe how a mindless mutant was able to beat her up that easily. Especially right in front of Casey.

"I just don't get it, Phantom." Ariana said with a sigh. "I'm a highly skilled mage martial artist. How can I possibly lose to a mutant who's so...mindless of its own abilities?"

"You're very intelligent, Ariana." Phantom said. "But, there are times when you and your siblings can't win the battles all the time by overthinking your enemy's moves."

"She's absolutely right." Sage said as she watched Ariana and Phantom looking at her from behind. "But in a fight, you cannot always be up in your brain of thinking."

"But how you can fight someone without thinking?" Ariana said in a slight desperate tone.

Just then, Talia came dancing in the living room as she listened to her music with her eyes shut.

"I'll show you." Phantom said.

As Talia was walking right towards Phantom, the marionette robot swung her fist that caused Talia to dodge under her arm. Talia then dodged another punch from Phantom without opening her eyes. Ariana watched the scene with her wide eyes wide. She knew Talia has the raw combination of agility and sheer unpredictability, but she didn't think that her younger sister can follow her own movements.

"You see, Ariana?" Sage said as she turned back to Donna. "Talia possesses a completely unpredictable nature that make her evade anything or anyone with her enhanced agility."

Ariana, Sage, and Phantom continued watching Talia dance her way into the kitchen.

"Well, now I see why Talia has more unperceived moves than me and my siblings do." Ariana admitted.

"Yes." Phantom agreed slowly. "Sometimes even I don't understand her ways of mage ninjutsu."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana was researching information on her laptop from Whitman's flash drive. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey then walked inside the lab in front of Ariana.

"Anything, Ariana?" Talia asked.

"Well, the notes are pretty hard to follow, but I recently found out that Whitman was actually trying to modify the mutagen." Ariana replied.

"Why would she do that?" Ezra asked.

"She thought she could use it to create a neuro chemical that would give someone invisibility." Ariana explained. "But, it's only temporarily."

"So, you are describing us that the chameleon can become invisible." Norbit said.

"More like blending into the background." Casey replied.

"Ok, we have to track her down before she hurts anyone else. Let's spread out and search the city." Kirana said.

"Spreading out is a 10% option in a mission." Norbit advices.

"The robot's right. And how are we gonna stay in contact and track her down?" Camilla asked. "Because that mutant can camouflage to her advantage."

"I have a little something that might help." Ariana said proudly. She stood up in front of her siblings and her friends. "Ladies and gentleman, I give you the K-Phone."

Ariana summoned a black rounded rectangle-shaped smartphone with a grey skull symbol on the back.

"Dude, that's so cool!" Talia said with a exciting smile.

"I've made each K-Phone based on our color schemes." Ariana explained. "Put your number in and I will patch all of you to my network."

"Sweet. Best invention ever, Ari." Casey smiled.

"Oh, thanks." Ariana said with a blushing smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Casey and the K-5 spread out to search for the mutant chameleon. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey had located the chameleon, but it was moving too fast for them to catch up because of her camouflaging abilities. The heroes ended up regrouping in the alleyway and started to argue over on the mutant's location.

But Kirana suddenly detected the chameleon's aura as she directed her team to the wall above them. Talia waved her hand back and forth with a grabbing shape as she pointed her magic to snare the chameleon mutant with a glowing orange constructed whip. The orange mage kunoichi was holding the vicious mutant tight as the chameleon was trying to break free.

"Ha! Got ya!" Talia exclaimed.

"Great." Camilla said pessimistically. "We got the chameleon. But not even close on finding Doctor Whitman."

Ezra suddenly detected something about the chameleon mutant with an aura sense and widened his eyes.

"Actually, we're a lot closer than we think." Ezra said.

"What makes you think that?" Casey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because this mutant is Doctor Whitman." Ezra replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5, Norbit, and Casey watched Doctor North strapped Doctor Whitman into a freaky looking chair. But the chameleon was hissing with anger, making Doctor North inject an enormous needle into Whitman's arm. Casey, Norbit, and the K-5 gazed at the chameleon, who was starting to calm down with deep breaths.

"Poor Whitman." Doctor North said. "That should calm her down for now. But I could never predict this unexpected outcome."

"Can you turn her back to normal?" Casey asked.

"I wouldn't even know, but I'll see what I can do." Doctor North replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, four mages and one human were minding their business in the kitchen. Talia was playing app games on the K-Phone, Ariana was surfing information on her laptop, Kirana was reading her Battlestar Matrix comic book, Ezra was watching a video with Norbit on his K-Phone and Casey was feeling bored.

Then, Camilla came back with five pizza boxes in one hand.

"Pizza's here!" Camilla announced with a smile.

As Camilla placed one pizza box on the table, Kirana and Casey instantly grabbed two slices while Ezra grabbed one slice. But they realized that Talia hadn't reacted immediately. They then watched Talia planted her face into the pizza to grab three pizza slices with her teeth while focusing on her game. Kirana rolled her eyes with a smirk and Ezra grimaced in slight disgust while Casey leaned over the counter to see what Ariana was doing on her laptop. Ezra looked over and brought a plate of a pizza slice to Ariana.

"What'cha doing, Ari?" Casey asked. "How come you're not eating?"

"Yeah, you want a slice?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, I'm not hungry." Ariana said inattentively. "I've been going over through Whitman's notes. It turns out she never had a chameleon in her lab. She was just using samples of chameleon DNA."

"So Whitman never had a pet." Norbit said.

"But if she never had a chameleon in the first place, then who could have broke out of that cage?" Ezra questioned.

"It might have been Whitman!" Camilla answered.

"Which means North put her there and she's been lying this whole time!" Ariana exclaimed as she got up to her feet.

"But why would she put Whitman in a cage?" Ezra asked.

"Perhaps she is after Whitman's invisibility powers." Norbit suggested. "I scanned her before and I have detected lying and vengefulness."

"Let's go!" Kirana said.

Kirana jumped over the counter and exited out the kitchen along with Casey, Camilla, Ezra and Ariana.

"But I haven't even finished this level yet!" Talia protested.

Camilla grabbed Talia's pigtails and pulled her away from her seat. Norbit walked to Ezra before he could leave. Ezra noticed and stopped his robot friend.

"Norbit, I know you want to help but we've got this." Ezra explained. "North will be too powerful with that power and I don't want you to get hurt. Can you stay here?"

"I will stay at the Fortress and wait for you all to return, Ezra." Norbit said.

"Thanks, buddy." Ezra said before leaving with his sisters and his friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in Doctor North's lab, she approached the struggling Whitman and injected a glowing cyan-colored needle into the mutant's neck. She was extracting the neuro-chemical from Whitman's brain and then injected the same chemical in her neck. North's eyes are now glowing cyan with a wicked smile across her face. She then turned around to see the K-5 and Casey, who were standing in front of the entrance door.

"Don't move, North!" Kirana said.

"Or we will fight you." Camilla added.

"It's over, North!" Ariana declared. "We know you mutated Whitman!"

"It's true. I did use her as a guinea pig." North admitted with an evil smirk.

"But why?" Talia demanded.

"Because I need the neuro chemical from Whitman's mutant brain for my own plans." North explained. "Especially when I learned that she was planning to modify the mutagen."

"So, that was your plan all along." Casey said slowly.

"You just used her for power." Ezra glared.

"Of course." North said. "Now, no one can defeat me when I can bend into any environment."

"Oh, really?" Camilla said with a glare. "I love to see you try!"

Camilla charged forward and performed a high flaming kick at the woman's face, but North managed to dodge and camouflaged out of sight. Camilla gasped and watched North reappear in front of her as the evil scientist gave the red mage kunoichi a smirk. Camilla delivered few more kicks and punches, but North dodged easily and then kicked the red mage kunoichi in the stomach that sent her flying straight to the wall. Kirana glared furiously at North and charged forward to attack the mad scientist from behind, but North was dodging everything through the blue mage kunoichi's swift, coordinated moves. Casey skated forward in front of North and swung his hockey stick at her with fast speed.

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra watched as North floored Kirana and Casey with blows to the head.

"How are we gonna defeat her if she can go invisible?" Ariana asked Talia and Ezra.

"Not to worry, sis. I'll just have to fight without thinking." Talia declared with a casual smile.

Talia charged forward to attack North with her unperceivable moves, but North was able to knock out Talia with a karate chop that made the orange mage kunoichi collapse to the ground unconsciously. That left Donna and Ezra the last ones standing against the evil camouflaging scientist.

"Just give up the powers, North." Ezra glared. "Or we'll use more than magic to hurt you."

"Oh, maybe I should take you down first." North smirked evilly.

"Stay away from my brother!" Ariana threatened.

The purple mage kunoichi charged forward to attack North with her earth magic, but North was still able to dodge them and attacked Ariana from behind with a swift kick in her camouflage mode. Ariana groaned as she was struggling on her feet away from North. Ezra charged behind North but she swiftly elbowed him down to the floor. Ezra groaned and looked up.

"I must say I truly admire that complex brain of yours." North said with a taunting smile. "I can extract your knowledge into my own once I'm through with you."

"Ariana, focus. You can do this." Ezra said, with encouragement.

Ariana closed her eyes shut and took a deep breath as she knows that she must fight without thinking to win the fight. She looked up with her thoughts turned off with a grin and charged forward to deliver a high kick at North, much to the scientist's surprise. North flew back into the desk and got back up on her feet, but it was too late for her to react when Ariana quickly kicked herself into the wall and delivered several strong punches at North until the final punch sent the woman flying into the open cage. North let out a painful groan and then passed out. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Casey recovered their strengths as they walked over to Ariana with smiles on their faces.

"Nice work, Ariana." Ezra said.

"Wow, Ariana!" Ella exclaimed. "Great job!"

"Ha!" Talia said gleefully as she was holding the mutagen in her hands. "Told you those backflips would work!"

"Gee, thanks." Ariana said dryly. "Now that we have the mutagen, let's see what North knows about the Kraang."

"Uh, girls? North's gone." Ezra said.

The K-5 looked to the cage and noticed that North vanish without a trace.

"North's gone!?" Ariana exclaimed.

"But what about her?" Casey asked, pointing his finger to the restrain chameleon.

The K-5 turned their attention to the chameleon mutant as if they almost forgot about her. Ariana walked over to remove the restraints, setting Whitman free in the process. Whitman turned to Ariana, Casey, Kirana, Talia, Camilla, and Ezra with a soft smile for her gratitude.

"I believe she's trying to thank us for her help." Ariana said to her siblings.

Whitman nodded in her response and moved to the open window as she jumped out of the building and disappeared out of sight in her camouflage mode.

"Um, just to be clear, are you guys sure New York City is really the best place for her?" Camilla asked slowly.

"I'm sure she'll be okay." Kirana reassured. "She is a chameleon mutant, after all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Sage sat on her mat in front of Casey and Norbit inside the dojo.

"Sage, I know your children possess magic. But do they each have unique abilities of their own?" Casey asked.

"Of course, Casey." Sage replied. "Every mage has their own unique abilities. Kirana can see and sense the feelings of others as colorful auras, Ariana can easily improvise new creations out of existing technology with her extensive knowledge of science and magic, Camilla possesses the capacity for essentially limitless physical strength, Talia has the potential to be the fastest of her siblings. And Ezra possesses varieties of magical abilities besides nature powers but he has something inside himself that makes him very strong."

"Oh, that explains a lot." Casey said.

"Casey, Norbit, you have been a great ally to my children in every mission." Sage said. "So, I would like to train you to learn mage energy abilities and I would like to train Norbit to be a robot ninja."

"As amazing as that sounds, I have to turn down your offer." Casey said. "No offense, but I never like magic."

"I understand. I'll teach the advanced fighting techniques." Sage said calmly. "But I warn you. The techniques will drain throughout your mind mentally, physically, and spiritually."

"Now, that I can accept." Casey said with a smile.

"Sage, I am honored and I accept your offer." Norbit said.

"I'm glad to hear that, but I warn you. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done. It will drain you mentally, physically, and spiritually." Sage reminded.

"I am a robot." Norbit said. "I can handle that kind of draining."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Casey and Norbit exited the dojo, Ezra walked over to them.

"So, what did my mother say about Norbit?" Ezra asked.

"I am training to be a ninja so I can help you and the others on missions." Norbit replied. "Ezra, can you help me in case I get stuck?"

"Sure, pal. Best buds always stick together." Ezra smiled.

"You got that right, Ezra." Casey said as he patted Ezra's back.

Ariana walked out of her lab with the touchscreen in her hands.

"Oh, hey, Casey." Ariana grinned with a cool face. "Were you at the dojo by any chance?"

"Yeah." Casey said proudly. "Sage is training me with awesome hand-to-hand combat skills."

"Oh, really? Then, maybe we can train together sometime." Ariana said.

"You're on!" Casey said with a grin.

With that, Casey walked away from Ariana with Ezra and Norbit.

"You see?" Ariana grinned. She looked at Camilla, who was sitting on the couch with her comic book. "Forget my master plan. My coolness is awesome!"

Ariana walked upstairs with a little victory dance as Camilla rolled her eyes and turned back to her horror comic book.


	8. Chapter Eight

In the Shadow Clan HQ, Lady Shade gazed her face straight at the glass window as Scarlett and Sapphire bowed down to their leader.

"How could my enemy's children managed to defeat you?" Lady Shade questioned. "They are mages just like us."

"But they are advanced mages unlike the rest of us." Scarlett informed.

"Which is why you should have let me finish them when Ihave the chance." Sapphire said with a snarl.

"Silence!" Lady Shade said. She walked down the stairs and halted in front of Scarlett with a threatening glare. "I really expected much more from you, Scarlett."

"Please, mistress." Scarlett begged fearfully. "Give me one more chance and I won't fail you again."

"No, you won't get another chance." Lady Shade said. She turned her eyes to Sapphire. "Sapphire, will be in charge of this mission."

Sapphire nodded her head and glanced at Scarlett with a sideway grin.

"I won't take any orders from this street mystic trash." Scarlett snarled.

"Is that so?" Lady Shade asked threateningly.

Lady Shade's right hand engulfed in blazing black energy claws and pointed it down at Scarlett, whose eyes widened wide open in complete fear.

"Unless you want me to, mistress." Scarlett said quickly.

"I've already sent out few ninjas to spy on the K-5." Sapphire explained. "And when I find them, I will drop them on your feet."

"Very well. Proceed to your objective." Lady Shade said.

As Lady Shade walked back to her throne, Sapphire grinned proudly at Scarlett and got up to exit the throne room. Scarlett hissed under her breath before following Sapphire out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 and Norbit are walking behind Casey through the streets. But the K-5 were wearing their causal outfits. Kirana wore a blue asymmetrical one-shoulder shirt over a long white strappy tank top, black jeans, and blue caty wedges. Camilla wore a sleeveless red tank top under a black leather biker jacket, black ripped jeans, red high-top sneakers, and two rhinestone spiked bracelets on each wrist. Ariana wore a light grey cross back tank top under a purple cardigan sweater, black skinny jeans, and purple sneakers. Talia wore an orange tank top under a white leather biker jacket, black skinny jeans, and orange high top sneakers. And Ezra wore a teal sleeveless shirt under a grey hooded jacket, blue jeans, and dark teal tennis shoes.

"Uh, Casey, where exactly are you taking us?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah, we can't handle the surprise anymore." Talia said with a smile.

"I know, but tonight you guys are gonna do something besides hitting people." Casey said with a smirk.

"Oh, come on. That's no fun." Camilla groaned in disappointment.

"So, I'm taking you to this noodle place I've found." Casey added.

"A noodle shop?" Kirana repeated with surprise eyes.

"And this place is friendly?" Ezra asked.

"Oh yeah." Casey replied with a nod. "Mr. Murakami owns the place and he's completely blind."

"But Mr. Murakami is very skilled at cooking with his others senses." Norbit said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Talia declared with a grin.

As Casey, Norbit, and the K-5 arrived at the noodle shop, they spotted familiar female twins wrecking the restaurant and beating up the blind owner through the window.

"Who are those crazy twins?" Ezra asked.

"The Wuju Twins." Casey said grimly. "Those chicks are up to no good again."

"So much for not hitting people tonight." Kirana said with a firm look.

"Let's do this!" Camilla shrugged with a wide grin.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra casted their magic to change into their mage kunoichi and mage ninja attire. Casey puts on his mask and took out his baseball bat. Together, they rushed into the restaurant in offensive stances.

"Let the man go now." Kirana ordered.

"Or else." Camilla said threateningly.

The Wuju Twins spun around to glare at the K-5 and Casey Jones.

"Oh, great." Juni groaned. "You guys again! Juli, looks like we're up for round 2."

"Indeed, Juni." Juli agreed. "Let's do this."

The Wuju Twins charged forward to fight against the K-5. Juni ran across the counter towards Ariana with a swift punch, but Ariana dodged out of the way as Talia leapt over the purple mage kunoichi's shoulders and delivered a few strong air kicks that sent Juni flying into the wall. Juni got up and grabbed a knife as he was heading towards Ezra with an evil smirk. Ezra gasped and moved his hand up.

"Get away from me!" Ezra warned.

Suddenly, a teal whiff of magic knocked Juni back and knocked her to the wall again. Ezra widened his eyes in shock and looked at his hands. He quickly snapped out of it and summoned his shield to continue fighting. Norbit managed to get Murakami out of the restaurant, safely. Kirana charged forward towards Juli and jumped over to kick her in the back that sent Juli straight at Casey, who swung his baseball bat a couple times until Juli fell on the floor unconsciously. As the Wuju Twins swiftly got back up on their feet, Kirana was left against them. The blue mage kunoichi delivered the twins with several powerful punches and kicks until her left boot pushed Juni to the floor and her right boot pushed Juli against the wall by the neck. As Kirana was ready to deliver a final blow with her fist, she saw Juli clenching his eyes tight for her doom. Kirana became hesitated for a moment and then released Juli from her boot.

"Leave now." Kirana warned. "Or there's plenty more beating coming at your way."

Juli stared at Kirana in surprise and went to help Juni on her feet.

"C'mon! We're outta here!" Juli said to Juni. She turned back to the K-5 and pointed her index finger at Kirana. "This isn't over!"

Then, the Wuju Twins exited the restaurant.

"What the heck was that? You just let her go?" Camilla shouted as she walked over to Kirana.

"They weren't exactly a threat, Camilla." Kirana said with a stern face. "And for your information, they had enough."

"And in case you haven't noticed, they were beating up a blind guy!" Camilla yelled. "Now, they'll think we're chumps with no strength to finish what we've started!"

Kirana glanced away from Camilla with a firm look on her face. Ezra looked at his hands curiously but he looked away.

"Wow!" Casey cheered as he and Norbit was helping Mr. Murakami off the floor. "We totally kicked their butts!"

"Yeah, we did!" Ariana said with a smile.

"Thank you for helping me. As a token of my gratitude, allow me to make you a free meal." Mr. Murakami offered.

"We can live with that." Ezra said.

"What is your favorite dish?" Mr. Murakami asked.

"Pizza, please!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia and Ezra answered together with excitement.

The K-5, Norbit, and Caset sat together at the counter as they watched Mr. Murakami was using his amazing cooking skills that surprised them in awe.

"Murakami-San, that was incredible!" Ariana exclaimed.

"You're like a food ninja like me!" Talia beamed. "I got to learn a few tricks from him."

Finally, Mr. Murakami set six long plates in front of the teenagers, who gazed down to see the plate held only ten dumplings.

"Pizza Gyoza!" Mr. Murakami said.

"Let's try it." Casey said to his mage friends.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Casey picked up a dumpling with their chopsticks as they ate them at the same time. Then, they quickly froze at the delicious taste of the food as their eyes widened wide in surprise.

"This is delicious." Ezra said before he ate another dumpling.

"Wow!" Casey said as he ate another dumpling. "I'm definitely taking this home to my dad and sister!"

"This is unbelievable, Murakami!" Ariana said.

"So, Murakami-San, what did the Wuju Twins want from you?" Kirana asked with concern.

"They want protection money from me like the Purple Dragons, but I refuse to pay." Mr. Murakami explained with a sigh. "The five mutant turtle-san save me from those evil Purple Dragons criminals, but now the twins will return once again for me."

"Yeah, thanks to someone who wimp out from the fight." Camilla said as she was glaring at Kirana.

Kirana ignored her hotheaded sister and continued to eat her dumplings. Ezra notices his hand is slightly glowing and he quickly hides his hand under a napkin before Ariana looked at his hand.

"What is that?" Ariana asked.

"Uh, it's my K-Phone. I got a notification from a game." Ezra said nervously.

"Ok." Ariana said as she continued eating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Ezra began to set up a practice dummy made of teal psychic energy in the dojo. He takes a deep breath and aims his hand at the dummy but nothing happens.

"Why doesn't it work?" Ezra groaned.

Sage heard her son's frustration and entered the dojo.

"Ezra, what troubles you, my son?" Sage asked.

"Mother, I have something to tell you and it's gonna sound crazy." Ezra responded.

"Alright, tell me this crazy story." Sage said.

"Um...look at this." Ezra said.

Ezra makes his hand glow and the teal magic attacks the dummy until it vanishes into nothingness.

"It happened at the noodle shop. It wasn't my lightning powers, this was something else I've never had before." Ezra explained. "I don't know what this kind of magic is or what is happening to my powers."

"Hmm. This is perhaps another form of magic inside you." Sage said. "This could be another form of magic and you must control it."

"But I won't be the same with you and my sisters." Ezra said.

"My son, we are not all the same and we are a family no matter what we may have that is unique." Sage told him.

"Thanks. But I'll need a key to help me on my new powers." Ezra said.

"I can give one advice that might help." Sage said before she pointed to Ezra's heart. "A powerful magic can be controlled in your heart."

"My heart." Ezra thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Kirana was pounding her fists at the training dummy through her frustration.

"Whoa there, Kirana." Camilla grinned as she came behind the training dummy. "This guy had enough. Maybe you should let him go."

"Zip it." Kirana snapped irritatedly. "You're just making fun of me about our fight with the Wuju Twins."

"Yes, I am." Camilla said honestly. "Because you show weakness."

"And I'm listening to you about that because?" Kirana said with a glare.

"Because we can't go soft on those twin punks." Camilla said.

"Showing mercy is not the sign of weakness, Camilla." Sage said as she walked into the living room. "But it is a sign of true strength."

"But they are criminals, mother!" Camilla said. "This is war!"

"In our culture, mages never forget the possibility of war in times of peace." Sage said firmly. "But in times of war, we never forget compassion."

"I'm guessing those mages lost a lot of brutal wars in their sad times." Camilla commented.

Sage's eyes narrowed coldly that made Camilla gasp when the palm of her mother nearly punched her face.

"So close." Talia muttered with a giggle.

"You see?" Sage said. "Mercy."

"But the Wuju Twins are not going to leave Murakami alone." Ezra said. "What's the plan?"

"So, we'll track down the twins and make sure they got the message." Kirana said.

"But how we gonna track someone down?" Ariana asked.

"Don't worry, ladies! Casey Jones knows just where to track them!" Casey grinned proudly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 followed Casey to the seemingly abandoned tattoo shop. They saw Juli exiting out of the place down on the sidewalk. The heroes quietly followed the black-haired twin from the rooftops and found her heading to an unfamiliar building.

Together, the heroes crashed through the building's window and faced the Wuju Twins in offensive stances. But they realized that they're interrupting a meeting between the Wuju Twins and two Shadow Clan warriors.

"Now we finally can have some fight." Sapphire said with a deadly smirk.

"It's Scarlett von Lake!" Talia said. "But who's the other woman?"

"The name is Sapphire." Sapphire said. She engulfed her hands in blazing magenta plasma energy. "So, let's get this fight started."

The Wuju Twins, Scarlett, and Sapphire charged forward to attack the heroes at once. Casey and Ezra fought against Juni, Ariana and Talia fought against Scarlett, Camilla fought against Sapphire, and Kirana fought against Juli once again. She easily had the criminal in her grasp with her water tentacle and pointed another water tentacle into her face, but she was beginning to feel regret through her core that made her release Juli away from her.

But then, the walls exploded with several Shadow Ninjas that made the heroes back away slowly.

"Perfect. Now what?" Ezra asked.

"Guys, retreat!" Kirana ordered.

"What? You got to be kidding me! We're giving up again?" Camilla shouted.

"Just shut up and move!" Kirana snapped.

Kirana made her way to the opening window with Casey, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra following behind as they jumped out the broken window after avoiding the barrage of shuriken coming from the Shadow Ninjas.

"Once a coward, always a coward!" Sapphire shouted from the window.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the living room was completely quiet with the presence of depression. Talia and Ariana sat on the couch, Kirana and Ezra sat on the floor, and Camilla sat near the training dummy. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra noticed that Camilla was extremely furious about their retreat.

"I couldn't believe it!" Camilla spoke furiously. "Can this day get any worse?"

"Look, it's called fighting smart, Camilla." Lee sighed. "Besides, the Wuju Twins have Sapphire and Scarlett on their side now because last time we barely beat those women. We hardly stand a chance against them."

"That's because they know how to fight to the finish!" Camilla snapped to Kirana. "The only way to beat them is to be just as ruthless as they are!"

"Camilla." Sage said as she walked in the living room with a firm face. "Being ruthless will make any mage dangerously destructive, but it does not make them strong to their potential."

"But Sapphire wins fights with her guts and skills!" Camilla explained. "And she never shows anyone mercy."

Hearing the word "mercy" made Kirana look away to the ground. Ezra frowned and looked at his hand.

Suddenly, the K-5 got a serious text from Casey that said "Meet me outside of Mr. Murakami's noodle shop". The mages quickly exited the fortress to the destination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Casey was pacing back and forth in front of the noodle shop, the Lotus Ninjas arrived inside and walked towards their vigilante friend and robot friend.

"Guys, I'm so glad you're here." Casey said.

"We've got your message. What's the matter?" Ezra said.

"It is Murakami." Norbit replied. "The Shadow Clan took him away and left with this note."

Norbit held out a note in his hand. Ezra took the note from Norbit and read it aloud.

"No more running. If you want the old man so bad, meet us out on the roof of the abandoned factory." Ezra said.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Camilla said. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast, Camilla." Kirana said firmly. "We have to think first."

"That's one thing Camilla can't do." Ariana commented with a smile to Talia.

"This is obviously a trap from us to walk on." Kirana continued.

"Well, do you have other ideas?" Camilla said. "Because I'm all ears!"

"We need to think more like Sapphire." Kirana said with narrow eyes. "I know what mother said before, but Sapphire crossed the line and dragged Murakami into this. We gotta show her we can cross the line too."

"Finally!" Camilla grinned. "And I think I know just the way to do it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the rooftop near the Tattoo Company, the K-5 stood up and waited for their target on the rooftop ledge.

"Ok, everybody know the plan?" Kirana whispered.

Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla nodded their heads. The siblings quietly watched their target exiting out of her dojo. It was Scarlett von Lake! As she walked through the streets, Camilla landed right behind her with a grin. Scarlett immediately sensed the red mage kunoichi and turned to her with an ink whip-like blade on her right arm. Talia came in with the chains and quickly tied Scarlett tightly. Kirana placed Scarlett in a trash can and chained it shut. And Ariana locked it with a padlock.

"Ladies and gentleman." Kirana announced with a smile. "Welcome to the other side of the line."

"Oh yeah." Talia said happily.

Camilla and Talia carried the trash can in her hands, but the heavy weight allowed them to drop it that crash into a building. They could hear Scarlett groaning in pain inside.

"Oops." Talia and Camilla grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, the K-5 rolled the trash can and then peeked around the corner of the exact location that Sapphire wrote on the note.

"Uh oh, look." Ezra said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia followed Ezra's finger that was pointing to Mr. Murakami hanging helplessly outside the building tied up. They could see Sapphire was grinning in delight and satisfaction.

"Man, Sapphire's cruel to the core." Talia said.

"Let's go." Kirana said.

The K-5 sprang high in the air and landed onto the building roof, where their enemies were waiting for them.

"We're here, Sapphire!" Kirana called. "Now let's the old man go!"

"I would love to." Sapphire smirked. "But unfortunately, there has been a change of plans."

Suddenly, the Shadow Ninjas jumped onto the rooftop with their weapons ready.

"Actually, there's been another change of plans." Kirana countered with a grin.

Camilla melted the chains with her flaming hand and Talia opened the trash can to reveal a tied-up Scarlett as Ariana held her still when she summoned two rocky hands from the ground.

"I just love it when a change of plan comes together." Ariana said with a smile.

"You let our friend go and we'll let your friend go!" Kirana said.

"That's too bad. Because she's not my friend!" Sapphire grinned.

The K-5 glanced at Scarlett in deep confusion. They know that Scarlett and Sapphire are always together as a team. Is Sapphire saying that to distract them or does she really mean it? They looked back at the plasma mage, who was walking over the wooden plank with a sly grin on her face. Ariana motioned her hands to release the ink mage kunoichi from the rocky hands and Camilla quickly lifted Scarlett to the edge of the building. Something snapped in Ezra and he had an idea.

"We're not kidding, Sapphire. So stop kidding around or we'll toss her out of the sky." Kirana said.

"Go ahead, it'll save me the trouble." Sapphire smirked.

Ezra looks at his sisters and smirks while showing his glowing hand, shocking them.

"What?" Ariana said.

Ezra blasts teal magic at Sapphire and knocks her back.

"You should've listened." Ezra glared. "Now give us back our friend before you get more what's coming to you!"

"Ezra has other powers?" Talia said.

"You made a mistake, little boy. I'll have to teach you a death lesson!" Sapphire said, angrily.

"Worst punch line ever, but you'll have to fight me first!" Ezra said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia went to Ezra's side.

"And us too!" Kirana added.

"You mess with our brother, you mess with all of us!" Camilla said.

Ezra smiled at his sisters and the K-5 summoned their weapons.

"Fine." Sapphire growled. "Attack!"

The Shadow Ninjas attacked the K-5 at Sapphire's command. Kirana jumped up in the air with her feet engulfed in water and then twirled her upside-down body to attack the first group of Shadow Ninjas with her legs like helicopter blades. Camilla quickly unleashed a sudden barrage of flaming bolts at the four incoming Shadow Ninjas in low and high direction. Ariana performed a diagonal down-forward one-legged driving earth kick with deadly force at each Shadow Ninja coming in her way. Talia delivered a series of high-damage wind somersaults to each Shadow Ninja coming in her way. And Ezra quickly spun around to deliver lighting bolts at Shadow Ninjas coming at him.

Then, the K-5 came together when the Shadow Ninjas surrounded around them in a circle. Scarlett was free from the ropes and she stood forward next to Sapphire.

"Alright, let's finish this!" Scarlett snarled.

"Hey, we're the ones who didn't throw you off the roof, remember that?" Ariana snapped.

Scarlett, Sapphire, and the Shadow Ninjas charged forward at the K-5. In few minutes of punching and kicking, Ariana and Talia were down and out by Scarlett while Camilla was knocked out by Sapphire. Kirana and Ezra were now the last ones standing against Scarlett and Sapphire. Sapphire ran forward and released a swarm of six magenta plasma energy bombs from behind while Scarlett delivered a series of black ink ripple-like waves at the blue mage kunoichi and teal mage ninja that sent them landing towards her younger sisters.

"Now that's how you catch five mages." Sapphire said as she walked ominously over the K-5 and lifted her magenta plasma engulfed hand towards her face. "And now I'll show you how to finish them off."

"No way! You'd never have caught them without my help and you know it!" Scarlett snapped.

"Says the woman trapped inside the trash can!" Sapphire grinned mockingly.

As Scarlett and Sapphire started gloating over their plans, Kirana looked up to see Juli was tilting her head to the right that made her stare at the water tower from behind. Kirana looked back to watch Juli nodding her head before escaping along with her twin, which made the blue mage kunoichi smile slightly.

"Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to destroy these mystics once and for all." Sapphire said.

"I don't think so!" Kirana said as she got up to her feet and pointed her finger at Sapphire.

Kirana jumped on top of the water tower and motioned her hands in the air, summoning the sound of huge water roaming inside the tower. As the stream of water burst out of the tower, Kirana fired a powerful water energy beam that washed Sapphire, Scarlett, and the Shadow Ninjas off the rooftop.

Immediately, Ezra darted forward and caught the rope that Mr. Murakami was tied into as he pulled him up on the rooftop.

"Don't worry Murakami-San, I got you." Ezra said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia broke the chain that freed Mr. Murakami in the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the noodle shop, Mr. Murakami rewarded the K-5 with a package of the Pizza Gyoza.

"Cool!" Talia grinned as she held out the box of Pizza Gyoza. "Thanks Murakami-San!"

"You five earned the token of my gratitude." Mr. Murakami smiled. "And you're welcome, Kunoichi-Chan and Ninja-San."

The sisters bowed with respect and kindness, but they realized something over what Murakami just said. Ezra was shocked when Murakami called them really fast.

"Wait. How do you know we were?" Ariana asked.

"I do have my amazing sense, despite myself being blind." Mr. Murakami replied. "Only smell and touch."

"You don't care if we're mages?" Ezra asked.

"Of course not." Mr. Murakami smiled. "You saved my life and you're welcome here any time."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra smiled excitingly as Talia hugged Mr. Murakami.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, everyone were sitting in the living room while eating their plate of pizza gyoza. Especially Casey, who was eating his plate of pizza gyoza. Ariana gasped but giggled with a smile.

"So, Ezra. How come you've never told us that you had another form of magic?" Camilla asked her younger brother.

"Wish I knew." Ezra responded. "I need to figure out this mystery but that's gonna take a while."

"You five showed your strength today." Sage said. "Even though you almost got beaten, your strength was mercy. That's why the Wuju Twins helped you."

"Well? Go on. Say it." Kirana smiled smugly to Camilla's face.

"Alright. You were right." Camilla sighed as she rolled her eyes. She formed a smug grin across her face. "But that proves that your wimpiness wasn't completely useless after all."

"Oh, you ask for it!" Kirana grinned.

Kirana playfully tackled Camilla as Ezra, Talia, Ariana, and Casey laughed out loud while Sage grinned slightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Lady Shade was deeply displeased with Sapphire and Scarlett's repeated failures.

"This is completely unacceptable!" Shade berated furiously.

"My apologizes, Mistress Shade." Scarlett apologized quickly.

"I swear." Sapphire promised. "Next time, we..."

"Enough!" Lady Shade interrupted harshly. She got up from her throne and walked down the stairs. "We shall deal with those mages...myself!"


	9. Chapter Nine

One sunny morning, Casey walked his feet on the streets of New York on his roller skates as he was totally aware of someone stalking him. As he turned into the alleyway, someone was chasing straight towards him.

Immediately, Casey spun around in his roller skates and skated away until he got inside the bank to watch the female mutant rabbit stop herself from getting herself hit by the glass. Casey looked at the rabbit mutant carefully before it ran away out of his sight.

"This city just keeps getting weirder and weirder with mutants everywhere." Casey commented.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ezra was practicing backflips while Kirana and Camilla were in the middle of a sparring session when Ariana walked in the dojo with an exciting news.

"Check it out, guys!" Ariana announced excitedly as she was holding a white bowl filled with black eggs in her hands. "We are about to take our ninjutsu to a whole new level. Last night, I figured out how to make ninja smoke bombs!"

Ariana threw one of the eggs to the floor and disappeared in a puff of misty black smoke before reappearing behind her two older sisters with a wide grin.

"Whoa!" Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra said in awe.

"Even though it took a while to finish, But I made it worked." Ariana explained. "I carefully drilled two holes in an egg shell without cracking it, slowly blew out the contents, waited for the inside to dry, then poured in flash powder, and sealed both holes with wax. So, we all must make sure to use them carefully."

"Who cares? Do it again!" Camilla said excitedly.

"Hey girls, I'm making breakfast!" Talia's voice called out from the kitchen. "Who wants some omelets?"

"Omelets?" Ariana echoed. She glanced at the smoke bombs in her hands and then realized what her younger sister was talking about. "Talia, don't!"

But it was too late. Talia walked into the dojo with a cough while carrying a bowl of smoke bombs with her face covered in black smoke.

"Ugh, would someone care to explain why we have rotten eggs in the fridge?" Talia asked.

Ariana rolled her eyes while Kirana giggled as she leaned helplessly against Camilla, who was also giggled at her youngest sister's face. Ezra walked up to Talia

"Those aren't eggs, Talia." Ezra said. "They're ninja smoke bombs."

"O.M.G!" Talia gushed happily with wide eyes. She quickly jumped next to Ariana acrobatically and took one black egg. "I wanna give it a shot!"

Talia was impressed as she began playing with the smoke bombs to basically wrap all over the place. Ariana tried to stop her before running out the eggs, but Talia was so happy about Ariana's new invitation that she gave her scientific sister a kiss on the cheek.

Just then, Casey rushed in the fortress through the living room. Norbit activates and walks over to Casey.

"Guys, guys, you'll never believe what happened to me!" Casey cried.

The K-5 quickly ran into the living room to see Casey sat down on the couch.

"Casey, calm down." Ariana said calmly, sitting next to the human vigilante. "Are you OK?"

"I am being hunted by a giant rabbit!" Casey said, grabbing Ariana by the arms with a frantic look.

Ezra held in his laugh while Camilla laughed openly, but she then stopped to notice that Kirana and Talia are glaring at her.

"I can't be the only one whose finds that funny." Camilla said.

"It's not funny, Camilla." Ariana said, helping Casey off the couch. "There's a mutant creature out there trying to hurt my Casey."

Casey gave Ariana a side glance, who immediately realized what she said.

"I mean, our Casey." Ariana grinned nervously.

Ezra slightly rolled his eyes.

"This is serious." Talia spoke as she was lifting a smoke bomb in her hand. "I'd better get mother."

"We don't really need..." Kirana said.

But it was too late. Talia threw out a smoke bomb and disappeared in a puff of smoke for Sage to appear in her place, much to Kirana's surprise.

"Talia said you wanted to see me?" Sage asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple minutes later; Sage, the K-5, and Norbit were gathered around Casey.

"Her agility was very sharp." Casey explained. "She would've caught me in seconds if I haven't ran inside the bank."

Camilla started laughing again with a comic book in her hands, but she stopped when everyone shot her a glaring look.

"Really?" Camilla said. "Just me?"

That's when Sage whacked her second oldest daughter on the head with her hand.

"Camilla!" Sage said firmly. "Clearly, Casey is upset."

"Yeah! That's so insensitive!" Talia said to Camilla.

"Casey, you appear to still be scared on the inside." Norbit said after he scanned Casey.

"I think I'm ok, Norbit." Casey said.

"Don't worry, Casey, we won't let anything happen to you." Ariana said softly.

"Ariana's right." Kirana said with a nod. "We're going to set a trap for this rabbit woman and make sure she never bothers Casey again."

"Well, I know what we can use as bait." Ariana said.

"Carrots!" Talia said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Ezra, Sage, and Casey stared at Talia in annoyance and confusion.

"Rabbits eat carrots." Talia explained.

"I meant Casey." Ariana said.

Talia's eyes widened and jumped in front of Casey.

"What?" Talia exclaimed. "You're gonna let him eat Casey? I thought you liked him!"

"Yeah!" Casey agreed. "What she said!"

"You can't be serious, right?" Ezra said to Ariana.

"Rabbits do not eat humans." Norbit stated. "But if Casey is devoured-."

"We get it, Norbit." Ezra interrupted Norbit "But Casey is not getting eaten."

"Don't sweat it." Ariana said to Casey, confidently. "We got your back."

"Alright guys, let's do this!" Kirana said, punching her fist into her palm.

Kirana sped towards the fortress exit with her siblings, Norbit, and Casey following close behind.

"Wait!" Sage shouted.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey froze their position as they turned at the white mage.

"You do not yet know what you are facing." Sage said warningly. "Perhaps you should study your enemy before confronting her. Also, even though you all may believe that it's just a rabbit, I fear you are all becoming overconfident."

"Mother, we have defeated many mutants and many Kraang droids a lot of time." Kirana smiled. "We're not only overconfident. We're just too good."

With that, Kirana leapt over the exit and her teammates followed her towards the fortress exit while Sage feared that her children will face the most possible enemy ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Casey wandered around the alley in boredom under the dark night sky.

"Here I am! Walking around in the big city! All alone! Oh, I sure hope no crazy rabbit woman sneaks up on me! That would be the last thing I want!" Casey groaned.

"What are you doing?" Ariana said as she was peeking out from the rooftop.

"You wanted me to be bait." Casey said irritatedly. "So, I'm bait!"

"That's not how bait talks!" Ariana whispered.

"How do you know how bait talks?" Casey whispered back.

"I know bait don't talk back!" Ariana snapped.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit poked their heads out of the rooftop they were hiding in as they stared playfully at Ariana.

"Oooh!" Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra giggled.

"Oh, no you didn't!" Talia added as she was shaking her head sassily.

"Just… act natural…" Ariana said nervously to Casey.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit quickly retreated into their hiding place on the rooftop. Casey sighed and continued his act in the alley until he stiffened suddenly when he heard the bouncing coming from the same mutant rabbit that went after him. Casey didn't move and let out a grin, thrusting his arm out to electrocute the mutant rabbit with his built-in tazer hidden in his glove.

"Now!" Casey cried, looking up to the rooftop.

Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra pounced on the rabbit woman while Casey stood over the mutant rabbit. The rabbit mutant has dark brown fur with a short round tail, hazel eyes, long black ears with dark brown fur covering two segments of each ear in fluffy bands, and wore a black leotard with long cuffed accented in light brown with black combat boots.

"Okay!" The mutant rabbit cried. "I give up!"

"And you say that I wasn't good bait." Casey commented to Ariana with a smirk.

Kirana, Camilla, and Talia stood up to release the rabbit mutant.

"Start talking, bunny girl." Ezra said, glaring down at the mutant rabbit.

"Hey, I have a name you know." The mutant rabbit snapped.

"And we don't care what it is." Camilla said frankly.

"It's Amber." The mutant rabbit said, glaring at Camilla. "I was captured from the Kraang. They poured some ooze on me and turned me into this! But I started out as a rabbit."

"I told you carrots can have been useful." Talia muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You got carrots?" Amber asked Talia.

"Sure." Talia grinned.

Talia snapped her fingers to conjure a carrot in her hand and handed it over to Amber.

"Amber, is there anything else you wanted to say?" Norbit asked.

"All I can say that the Kraang facility is not too far from here." Amber responded as she was finished eating the carrots. "I can show you the way."

"Let's roll!" Talia smiled as she was lifting a smoke bomb in her hand.

Talia dropped a black egg to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke. On the rooftops, some Shadow Ninjas were watching the whole sense above and made a call to Sapphire and Scarlett about their progress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5, Casey, and Norbit found the Kraang's base. Ariana quickly opened the entrance into the base and pushed the metal lid away for the team to enter in without being spotted.

"Piece of cake!" Ariana grinned.

"Let's do this!" Casey said excitedly, holding his silver metallic stick in his hands.

"You and Norbit have to stay here, Casey." Kirana said, stopping her friend with a hand. "This requires stealth and mobility. Leave it to us."

"Okay, but if there's too much to handle against the squad of alien freaks, then Casey Jones will step in the fight." Casey said with a cocky smile.

"I wish of good luck to you. Remember caution on your mission." Norbit advised.

As Casey and Norbit waited outside for anything evil crossing his path, the mages jumped into the base and quietly avoided several Kraang droids to enter the halls without getting caught. They eventually ended up following two Kraang droids to a strange room. As soon as the alien robots opened the door, Kirana snuck up on them and summoned water tentacles from her arms to bash their heads together while Camilla threw a ball of fire at the head of the Kraang droid that was already occupied the room. The mages looked around and saw bright blue lights streaming down the machine in the center of the dark room.

"It's a computer." Ariana said, staring at the machine core closely.

"Ariana, hack into the system and see what you can find out about the Kraang's plot." Kirana ordered. "Camilla, you're with me to keep on a look out. Ezra, you have to guard Ariana at the door. Talia, stay with Ariana."

"Why do I always get stuck with Talia?" Ariana asked irritatedly.

"Hey!" Talia offended.

"I don't want her." Kirana snapped. "And I'm in charge!"

"Hey!" Talia offended again.

"Well, then make Camilla take Talia." Ariana retorted, pointing her finger to her red mage sister.

"Over my dead body." Camilla said, crossing her arms and turned away from Talia.

"You know, I'm starting to think nobody wants to be with me!" Talia snapped with a glare. "Fine! I'll just go off on my own!"

Talia threw a smoke bomb and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, and Ezra turned to see a different door clattering open from which Talia emerged in a puff of black smoke.

"My guess that was a closet." Talia giggled sheepishly.

"Have fun you two." Camilla smirked as she, Ezra, and Kirana exited the room.

"Whoa. Um...what does that button do…?" Talia asked as she was about to touch the Kraang computer button with her curious finger.

"Don't...touch...anything." Ariana warned firmly as she quickly grabbed Talia's hand to constrict her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kirana and Camilla quietly observed their surroundings behind the door in their stealth mode, Ezra was watching his surroundings with a steady ease. Ariana was still working the Kraang computer and immediately learned that the Kraang planted a mutagen bomb to set off on a building that will covered half of the city. But, of course, Talia's annoying curiosity accidentally set on the alarm, alerting all the Kraang droids around the base. Kirana and Camilla looked around the blinking pink light right when Ariana, Talia, and Ezra ran out of the room to confront them.

"Kirana! Camilla!" Ariana exclaimed frantically. "The Kraang have planted a mutagen bomb downtown! They're gonna use it to disperse ooze over half the city!"

"So, we gotta hurry and stop it." Ezra said.

"But who set on the alarm?" Kirana asked.

Ariana quickly pointed her index finger at Talia, who was waving at Kirana and Camilla with a nervous laugh.

"And therefore no one wants to be partnered with you!" Camilla shouted.

"Let's go!" Kirana ordered.

The K-5 finally made it back to their exit escape. But many Kraang droids chased after them with laser gun blasting at the mages in their sight. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra gave everything they got at the alien robots by delivering several elemental attacks at them one by one, but they were too many for them to handle. Quickly, Casey dropped down many hard rubber fire-cracking pucks on the floor near the Kraang and each one exploded at the alien robots enough for the girls to escape. They climbed out of the Kraang base before Ariana closed the lid tightly.

"Ezra." Norbit said. "You appear to be a little startled. I will give a hug to you for support."

"Thanks, buddy." Ezra said as the two best friends hugged.

"You guys are safe!" Casey smiled, giving Ariana a tight hug. "You nearly have me worried there."

"We're mystic kunoichis." Ariana giggled slightly. "It's what we do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 had arrived at the Wolf Hotel where the Kraang mutagen bomb was set on top of a hotel. They jumped to the top of the mutagen bomb as Ezra carefully aimed small lightning throwing stars at each Kraang droid that wasn't suspecting their arrival before he and his four older sisters jumped from the top of the bomb.

"Ok, Ariana." Kirana sighed. "It's up to you. Shut down the bomb."

Ariana nodded her head and opened the control panel for the bomb.

"That might be a problem." Ariana gulped. "Seeing this incredible complex, I don't know if I can shut it down."

"You mean you can't shut it down because of high technology?!" Ezra asked.

"Ariana, you can do this." Kirana said sternly. "Just do your thing."

Ariana turned back to the bomb panel and began to reach in carefully with her siblings standing behind her.

"Just find the wire to shut it down." Camilla said.

"If you'll all be quiet for a second!" Ariana snapped.

"How about the green one?" Talia asked, pointing her finger at the green wire.

"Have you already done enough?" Camilla snapped.

"Ariana." Ezra said. "You're going to have to speed things up."

"I cannot work with all this pressure!" Ariana shouted frantically.

Suddenly, the mages heard a sinister giggle behind them. They turned and saw Scarlett and Sapphire stood on the Wolf Hotel sign. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra summoned out their magic in their palms. Four mages charged to fight against Scarlett and Sapphire, leaving Ariana working on how to defuse the bomb. Sapphire swiftly grabbed Talia and threw her over her shoulder just in time for Kirana to charge at her.

"You ladies picked a really bad time for this!" Kirana snapped as she released a powerful blast of water from her hands at Sapphire.

"Oh, sorry for the inconvenience." Sapphire said sarcastically. "When would you prefer to breathe your last breath?"

"How about never?" Camilla snapped fiercely as she charged directly at Sapphire.

"If that thing goes off, it'll wipe us all out!" Ezra said, blocking an ink attack from Scarlett from his lightning magic.

"I'd rather die with honor than live in shame." Scarlett said as she lifted a sharp ink-shaped sword in her hands.

Scarlett brought down the ink sword at Camilla, but the red mage kunoichi dodged and bounced off the metal beam to punch Scarlett in the face as she backflipped over the woman and landed on her feet behind the ink mage.

"Hurry up and diffuse the bomb already!" Camilla shouted at Ariana. "We're dealing with a couple nut jobs here!"

"Keep fighting and shut up!" Ariana screamed.

"Just keep working!" Ezra shouted.

Ariana turned back to the bomb panel as she became shaky. "I have to shut this bomb quick. Down to two wires. Which do I cut? Black…or green?"

"Go for the green!" Talia called as she was dodging magenta plasma bolts from Sapphire.

"Eh, why not?" Ariana said in fear.

Ariana clenched her eyes tight and used her wire clipper to deactivate the bomb that ended up being defused, much to her shock and surprise.

"Guys!" Ariana laughed slightly. "Talia was right about something!"

After the bomb was finished, Ariana joined her sisters into the fight and the mages had finally managed to defeat Scarlett and Sapphire. The K-5 had driven two evil women to the second bomb ledge with no choice but standing without a strategy to come up with.

"The fight is ours, ladies." Kirana said with a grin. She pointed her water tendril at Scarlett. "Stand down."

"Never, girlie!" Sapphire said angrily.

"You two don't have a choice." Kirana pointed out. "You've lost."

"If I'm going down…" Scarlett spoke up. She lifted her arm to form an ink katana sword in her palm, not aware of making a big mistake for herself and Sapphire. "I'm taking you all with me!"

"No! Don't!" Ezra shouted.

But it was too late. Scarlett stabbed the sword into the glass, bursting out the mutagen in a flood and washed Sapphire and Scarlett away that sent the women falling over the emptying bomb. The K-5 jumped down from the bomb and watched as the bomb officially powered down on Scarlett and Sapphire.

"So, we kicked the butts of the Kraang and Shade's top henchwomen while diffusing a bomb, and saving the city." Kirana said as she placed her hands on her hips sassily.

"Yeah, we aren't overconfident!" Camilla agreed.

"We're just that good." Kirana said with a confident wink.

As the K-5 celebrate their victory on their successful mission, they moved away from the puddle of mutagen until they suddenly heard a seductive feminine voice that made all of them stiffen.

"Your skills are impressive."

The K-5 turned and saw the tallest, scariest mage they had ever seen standing on top of the mutagen bomb. She has long wavy black hair and grey eyes. She wore a black qipao patterned with a silver dragon and dark grey leggings, long black gloves, and black high heels. Her face was covered by a silver metallic crowned mask that reveals only the eyes of her face. With a giggle, the black mage jumped down and landed in front of the mages.

"But they will not save you from my wrath." The black mage said.

"Who is that?" Ezra stuttered.

"Oh man." Ariana said timorously. "Do you think that's…Lady Shade?"

"Well, it's definitely her the one and only!" Camilla said.

The K-5 drew their magic in defensive positions when Lady Shade was walking towards them.

"I never imagined my old nemesis have taught her four daughters and her son advanced mystic ninjutsu." Lady Shade said in a low, threatening voice. "Bestow your mother's location and I may let you alive."

"Sorry, but you're gonna have to catch us first!" Kirana retorted. "Talia!"

"Peace out, witch!" Talia smiled as she held up a smoke bomb in her hand.

Unfortunately, the smoke bomb turned to be a regular egg when Talia threw it on the ground.

"Oh dang." Talia grinned nervously.

"We are so dead." Ezra muttered.

Lady Shade's palms began to glow in blazing black energy and she charged forward at the K-5, challenging them one by one in single combat. She clashed with Camilla first as the fire mage kunoichi was throwing many fireballs at the black mage, who immediately created a strong shield to protect herself. Lady Shade swiftly kicked Camilla with her strong leg, sending the red mage kunoichi to hit the Wolf Hotel sign and fell to the ground beaten. Ariana glared at Lady Shade and charged forward to release a wave of violent earth rushing towards the black mage, but Lady Shade jumped over the attack and punched Ariana repeatedly into the face until she punched the purple mage kunoichi with her final black energized fist. Talia charged forward and unleashed an air constructed chain wrapping around Lady Shade's wrists. Unfortunately, Lady Shade pulled Talia forward and swiftly kicked her away as Talia rolled off the building.

"Girls!" Kirana shouted.

Ezra growled and charged at Lady Shade and fired lightning bolts at the black mage, but Lady Shade was able to dodge them and smacked Ezra to the ground. Ezra tried to get up but Lady Shade punched him down and kicked him back a couple of feet.

"Ezra!" Kirana shouted.

Lady Shade learned that Camilla, Ariana, and Talia had proven not to be invincible against her. She turned to Kirana and watched the blue mage kunoichi leapt into the air with razor-sharp water tendrils above her head to bring them down on the black mystic. Lady Shade caught Kirana and threw her aside. But Kirana wasn't done yet. Kirana charged forward to Lady Shade, who quickly dodged out of the way. The woman was extremely fast as she swept her black energized fists and kicks at Kirana. Unfortunately, Kirana's fast speed wasn't quick enough to keep up. Lady Shade punched the blue mage kunoichi down and kicked Kirana away to the ground. Camilla, Kirana, Ezra, and Ariana gasped in fear as Lady Shade stood over them with her black blazing fist raised up high.

Suddenly, Talia jumped up from the ground and released a strong air downward kick at Lady Shade's back that made the black mage to let out a painful shout when Talia delivered a swift punch in the chest to send the woman away from her siblings. Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, and Ezra helped each other to their feet as they huddled together with Talia to glare at Lady Shade. The mages breathed heavily as they stood in their defensive stances. Lady Shade's eyes narrowed and charged forward as well as the K-5 charged before they clashed each other. In quick succession, each of the mage kunoichis and the mage ninja were taken down. Lady Shade watched Kirana groaning on the ground in pain and grabbed her by the neck to lift her from the ground.

"If I were you, I'd be telling Sage's hiding spot before your demise will be come quick." Lady Shade growled as she held her blazing black energy claws in front of Kirana's face.

Suddenly, two gasping sound made Lady Shade jump slightly that made her spun around to her henchwomen. Kirana quietly teleported away from Lady Shade's grasp with her magic and dropped herself down to the ground. Kirana, Ariana, and Talia helped their leader on her feet before backing away slowly to escape. Lady Shade became distracted and baffled to witness Scarlett and Sapphire dripping themselves with mutagen. Sapphire was transformed into a pale magenta ghostly mutant and Scarlett was transformed into a dark inky liquid mutant.

"Sapphire?" Lady Shade said incredulously. "Scarlett?"

Then, Lady Shade turned around to face the K-5. But they were already gone out of her sight.

"NO!" Lady Shade yelled in rage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 are bruised and battered in the living room as they have never felt so much dejection in their lives. Talia laid on her stomach on the couch. Kirana walked in the living room with a sad look on her face. Ezra sat on the couch as Norbit was helping his injuries. Ariana sat on the front steps and looked at Casey, who sat on her side with a frown. And Camilla sank down to the floor behind the beeping arcade with a grunt of frustration.

"You were all very lucky." Sage said as she was walking into the living room. "Few mages have ever faced Lady Shade and survived."

"She was impossible to fight against." Camilla muttered.

"She was just so fast." Talia frowned.

"Like she was everywhere at once." Ariana added.

"I've never felt so afraid in my life." Ezra said.

"You were right about us being overconfident, mother." Kirana said as she looked at the ground with a frown. "There some things we just aren't ready for."

"Perhaps." Sage said as her comforting hand rested on Kirana's shoulder. "But that is no longer matter. Lady Shade knows our existence. So, prepare yourselves, my children. Because as of this moment, we are at war."


	10. Chapter Ten

The K-5 quietly walked through the mist in an alleyway on a strange foggy night.

"Shade could be anywhere. Stay close, guys." Kirana said cautiously.

"Ugh. I'm already freezing from this frost." Ezra groaned.

"Plus, the frost coming from the mist can't accumulate unless it's freezing below zero." Ariana stated.

"Ariana, enough with the scientific stuff." Talia complained.

"And that's why you always known as the dimwit in the family, Talia." Camilla remarked.

"And I've found five hopeless mages with only less seconds to live."

Hearing Shade's voice echoing through the night made the five mages search their surroundings for any sign of the enemy. Talia felt her arms being seized by someone's grasp and looked at them to see a strong chain made of black energy coming from Lady Shade, causing the orange mage kunoichi to scream while getting dragged off into the fog that caught her older sisters' and younger brother's attention.

"Talia!" Ariana cried.

Ariana charged towards Lady Shade with her earth covered fists, but Lady Shade created a black energized whip to wrap the rocky fists together tightly and pulled the purple mage kunoichi close towards her. Lady Shade then delivered a powerful kick to Ariana face that sent her flying to the street unconsciously.

"Ariana!" Ezra shouted.

Ezra charged to attack Shade but Shade dodged the attack and released a powerful kick to send the teal mage ninja into darkness.

"Ezra, no! Take her down, Camilla!" Kirana ordered.

"With pleasure!" Camilla shouted.

Kirana and Camilla charged forward towards the Shadow Clan leader as they raced on the opposite side of the alley to attack her with a punch from Camilla and a kick from Kirana. Lady Shade countered with a brutal three punch combo that sent the blue mage kunoichi flying to the ground away from her. Camilla aggressively dove at Lady Shade with her flaming fists until the Shadow Clan leader delivered powerful quick jabs to the red mage kunoichi's chest and sent her final jab that was strong enough to send Camilla flying into the darkness. Kirana could barely stand on her feet as she watched Lady Shade walking towards her with black energized steel claws with wide, terrifying eyes.

"Time for me to end your life." Lady Shade said. "Permanently."

Kirana didn't have any time to scream as Lady Shade swiftly attacked the blue mage kunoichi with a quick slash.

"Noooooo!" Sage cried, waking up from her devastating nightmare.

Sage took many deep breaths and tried to get control of herself from her nightmare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Sage walked out of the dojo and into the living room, she saw her five children taking their leave out of the fortress.

"Where are you five going?" Sage called out.

"We're heading out for our evening patrol." Kirana answered.

"No more patrol!" Sage declared harshly. "Last time you fought Lady Shade, you five barely escaped with your lives!"

"Mother?" Ezra questioned confusingly. "Are you alright?"

"Look, we know our battle with Lady Shade was unexpected, but we'll be ready next time." Camilla said confidently.

"And that's why you're staying here until you are ready!" Sage yelled with her narrowed eyes as her face leaned close to Camilla's scared face. "No patrol! No games! No spell casting! No rest! Only ninja training staring now!"

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quickly jumped behind Kirana in fear as they stared at Sage with shocked faces. They have no idea why their mother was acting strange, but they know that this week isn't gonna be much delightful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After training for the past few weeks, the siblings were becoming exhausted from the lack of rest. They kept tiredly charging at each other and slowly blasted each other with their elemental powers. The more Sage keeps ordering her daughters, the less she's ignoring their tiring condition.

"Mother, please. I'm begging you. Can we please rest?" Talia pleaded.

"And let Lady Shade fueling her rage until you are all dead? I don't think so!" Sage responded harshly.

"Mother, we've been training for weeks with any sleep at all." Kirana said calmly. "We need rest. Look at us, we can't take anymore."

"Alright, you may rest." Sage agreed calmly.

"Thank you." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra smiled happily as they fell to the ground with tiredness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a long peaceful nap, the five mage siblings had split up around the fortress in relaxation. Kirana was watching Battlestar Matrix and Camilla was chilling on the couch with her pet Samson in the living room. Samson jumped on the top of the TV with great reflexes and turned the TV off with his paw.

"Hey! Samson!" Kirana cried angrily.

"Sorry, it was his idea." Camilla said with a grin. "He really never like that show."

"That's because you two are so emotionally alike." Kirana said dryly as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't make me come over there and pound your face to the floor!" Camilla snapped as she stood up from the couch.

"I'll love to see you try, Camilla." Kirana said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Suddenly, Camilla got herself nailed in the face with a water balloon. Talia walked into the living room with a bucket of water balloons in her hands.

"Your Prank Queen had arrived, ladies!" Talia cheered.

Camilla got close to Talia's face with a dangerous look on her face.

"Oh, looks like I'm so dead." Talia gulped.

"I'm gonna kill you for that!" Camilla hollered.

Talia screamed helplessly and began running away from Camilla, who was chasing after her with blasting fireballs one by one.

All Kirana can do is watch her sisters running around the living room with a sigh. Ezra walked in with a sleeveless white shirt with blue gyms shorts and a towel on his head.

"Ok, what's going on? I was done with my shower." Ezra groaned.

"Typical sister stuff." Kirana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the four mages visited Ariana's lab and saw their brainiac sister working on her latest invention that was covered by a large white cloth.

"You're still on that vehicle?" Camilla asked.

"Well, duh." Ariana replied. "I called them Turbo Karts. I've designed them with the right technology so we can each drive one with speed and acceleration."

"Well, I suggest that you got to find a way to relax without building gadgets all the time." Talia said, looking at the detachable kart blueprints in her hands.

"At least, we still don't need worry about Shade right now." Ezra said.

"We all have different ways to relax ourselves, Talia." Kirana said.

"Yeah, that's how I do." Ariana agreed.

"And this is how I do." Talia smiled slyly.

Talia threw a water balloon from her back to hit Kirana, who quickly ducked down to have the balloon hit Ariana right in the face. Ariana dropped her tools and snapped her neck side to side, walking close to Talia with an angry look on her face as her hands transformed into large rock gauntlets. Talia quickly made a run for it out of the lab as Ariana chased after her from behind.

"You better watch your back, Kirana and Ezra!" Talia announced. "Because you're next!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, Sage's harsh training session kept wearing her children down. But that quickly ended when Casey stepped into the dojo.

"Guys, you're not gonna believe this." Casey said as he waved his phone in the air.

Everyone surrounded Casey to watch a video of the Wuju Twins' conversation on his phone. Norbit activated and walked over to watch with everyone.

"We're gonna Lady Shade tonight." Juli said. "She has a plan to destroy the K-5 for good."

"How?" Juni asked. "I mean, she doesn't even know where they live in this city."

"She believes that they lived somewhere that relates to metal connected by magic somewhere." Juli said. "That's all she needs to know to wipe them out."

Casey then turned off his cell phone and looked back at the mage family.

"As I feared, our home is no longer safe from Lady Shade." Sage said grimly. "She must be stopped at any cost."

"But how could we stop her if she's too strong for the five of us to handle?" Ezra asked.

Kirana's eyes narrowed when she sensed Talia's aura holding a water balloon in her hand from behind. She lifted her hand out and clenched it into a fist, causing the water inside the balloon to explode in Talia's hand without turning.

"Oh c'mon!" Talia whimpered.

"We have to go outside and find out what they're planning." Camilla declared determinedly.

"Camilla's right." Kirana said with a nod.

"Scary." Ariana and Talia muttered together.

"There's no other way." Kirana continued. "Lady Shade will plot a death surprise on us if we stay up here any longer."

"Then go, my children." Sage said sternly. "Find Lady Shade and stop her."

The K-5 nodded their heads and ran out of the fortress exit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, the K-5 followed the Wuju Twins from their hideout to an abandoned decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church from the rooftop silently. The mystics hid down on the edge of the rooftop on a lookout. Kirana crouched down on the far left, Talia crouched down between Kirana and Camilla, Camilla crouched down between Ezra and Ariana, Ezra crouched between Talia and Camilla, and Ariana crouched down on the far right. They all looked down the building area, which they believed to be Lady Shade's headquarters.

"So, this must be the place." Kirana whispered.

"You know, I've been thinking and maybe we're in over our heads." Talia said.

"What makes you think that?" Ariana asked.

"Oh please." Camilla snapped. "When did that ever stopping you?"

"I'm just saying after everything mother said is making usdo something drastic!" Talia snapped back. "And that frighten me."

"It's alright to be scared, Talia." Kirana said softly. "Even Camilla is scared."

"As if!" Camilla protested.

Kirana let out a smirk and used a hint of blue magic to tap the back of Camilla's head, causing her to spin around with a yelp. Ariana gave Kirana a thumb up with a smile, Ezra snickered silently, and Talia laughed under her breath. Camilla glared at the giggling Kirana with a growl.

"Your five should be." A deep seductive feminine voice spoke.

That voice made the five mages freeze as they turned around to find a thick black female humanoid made of fluid ink with a two white slanted eyes on her face coming from behind them.

"Scarlett!" Kirana gasped.

"Man, that mutagen really mess her up!" Talia said.

"You said it." Ariana agreed with a nod.

"Well, well, well." Scarlett said with a sinister grin. "Looks like I'm gonna have some fun."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra summoned out their elemental magic in their offensive stances. Kirana charged first and summoned a stream of big water bubbles at Scarlett with great force multiple times, but Scarlett blocked the attack with her gigantic palm she enlarged slowly. Kirana quickly dodged by jumping in the air to deliver a swift kick as Scarlett swung her giant fists at the blue mage kunoichi, who went flying in the air and crashed to the ground back towards where her sisters were standing. Camilla charged forward and fired several fiery curved fire beams towards Scarlet, who quickly blocked the attack with her gigantic fist and used her other gigantic fist to punch the red mage kunoichi back to the ground next to Kirana. Ariana charged forward and summoned five long earth spikes that pierced Scarlett from all sides around the building. Scarlett growled and swung her gigantic fist at the purple mage kunoichi, who was able to dodge just in time but she was getting punched in the face by Scarlett's other gigantic fist that sent her flying into Kirana and Camilla. Talia ran towards Scarlett and created an enormous tornado to hit the ink mystic mutant with great force. Scarlett's giant fists began punching the orange mage kunoichi, who was dodging them in supersonic speed until she got smacked into her downed sisters when one punch from Scarlett got her at the side of her face.

"Ha, you four weren't even all that challenging since I got a brand-new form." Scarlett said with a laugh. Her giant arms reverted to normal size and shaped them into long whips as she began stalking towards the mages. "Allow me to thank you for that."

"You forgot me, messy!" Ezra said.

Ezra summoned a bunch of lightning bolts to strike Scarlett, but she was able to dodge them and began to charge at the teal mage ninja. Suddenly, Ezra's hand began to glow teal and he used it to blind Scarlett.

"A mage with two powers? Impossible!" Scarlett growled.

Ezra summoned his shield and kept fighting Scarlett.

"Okay, this is seriously hopeless!" Ariana exclaimed.

"Inque's just too strong for us!" Talia agreed.

"Inque?" Kirana asked, giving her youngest sister a confusing glance.

"Because she's made of ink, so yeah." Taila explained.

"Uh, girls. She's almost about to beat Ezra!" Ella said as she watched Inque walking closer to Ezra with shocking eyes.

The mage kunoichis quickly went to Ezra and blocked him.

"Talia, smoke us out of here!" Kirana ordered.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Talia screamed.

Talia took out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground, enveloping the four mage kunoichi and mage ninja in a puff of misty black smoke as they disappeared out of Inque's sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 sat on the living room with disappointment. Talia and Kirana sat on the couch together, Ariana sat on the couch's armrest with her lilac touchscreen pad, Ezra sat on the other couch's armrest with his arms crossed, and Camilla sat on the floor in front of the couch with her arms and leg crossed. Sage, Norbit, and Casey stepped in the living room as they stood in front of the mages, who four out of five were looking up at them.

"We couldn't take down Scarlett." Kirana said sadly. "She's more quicker and stronger than the four of us combined."

"Yeah, with her new mutant form, she's just too powerful for us to take on." Talia agreed with a frown.

"So now she's Inque?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah, with her mutant form." Talia said.

"Maybe we need to relocate our new home." Ariana said, showing a page on Spain on her touchscreen pad. "We could live in Spain. Bull fighting is entertaining this time of year."

"No way." Casey said suddenly. "You guys can't just give up just like that. Ezra, Norbit, and I can spy on Lady Shade's meeting with her goons."

"Whoa, what?!" Ezra said.

"I don't think so!" Camilla cried.

"Nu uh!" Talia hollered.

"Not a chance!" Ariana shouted.

"Forget it!" Kirana yelled.

"I'm the only one who can do this. Ezra can do this too with that wicked second magic power of his and Norbit can help out with being a robot. Besides, what choice do we have?" Casey pointed out. "We can't let Lady Shade attack your home, so I'm going with Ezra and Norbit whether you like it or not."

"Will that satisfy your emotions?" Norbit asked.

"Sure." Ezra said. "Ok, I agree with Casey. We're going to spy on a meeting."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Sage exchanged looks as they knew that they have no any other choice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, the four mage kunoichis watched Casey walked towards Shade's hideout from the opposite rooftop with Ezra and Norbit following him.

"I don't like the looks of this." Ariana said worryingly.

"Me neither." Talia agreed. "But they can do this."

Casey looked up at the church with a smirk and began skating away into the alleyway.

"Wait a minute! What does he think he's doing?" Ariana gasped, looking over the edge of the building.

Casey began hopping on the up the building fire escape and started climbing up to the building rooftop. Ezra ran at full speed and jumped to the rooftops next to Casey. Norbit just race-walked over to them.

"He's so wicked cool." Ariana said dreamily.

"But what exactly are they doing?" Kirana wondered.

Casey let out a smirk and skated forward to leap himself in the air and landed on the church roof ledge safely. Ezra uses his strength to toss Norbit to Casey, who catches him. Ezra jumps high and grabs on the ledge. Casey quickly helped him up.

"And he sticks the landing!" Casey cheered in a whisper.

"Some luck." Ezra whispered back.

Then, Casey tiptoed quietly on the church ledge and took out his cell phone before walking through the stain glass window hole.

"Very clever, Jones." Camilla smirked.

Kirana took out her cell phone and put it on speaker, so that the girls can hear a familiar voice on the other end thanks to Casey's cell phone on speaker.

"Scarlett, you and the Wuju Twins will not mess up this chance." Lady Shade spoke over the phone. "One of my best Shadow Clan scientists have collected extremely rare machines found in Europe. These machines will have the perfect ability to destroy them once and for all. Now go and fulfill your mission."

Then, Kirana clutched her cell phone quickly.

"What machine is she talking about?" Camilla asked.

"I don't know, but we can't let Inque and the Wuju Twins use it to destroy our home." Kirana replied firmly.

"Then, let's get the boys out of there." Donna said.

"No, we can't." Kirana said. "We won't put the boys at risk."

"Wanna bet?" Camilla asked, pointing her finger out at Shade's hideout.

The four mages saw Casey, Ezra, and Norbit jumping down on the building fire escape and landed on the ground in the alleyway safely. They also caught Inque and her crew walking past the alley. Inque stopped walking and turned her face to the alley, zooming her vision into the dark alley to see Casey hiding in magnified scale. Inque began looming over the shocking Casey and shaped her arms into long whips to capture him by the limbs. Ezra charged at Inque but he was knocked to a wall. Inque saw Norbit and charged at him.

"Oh no." Norbit said.

Inque knocked Norbit to a wall next to Ezra. The four kunoichis quickly jumped down from the building they were standing on and landed on the street ground to find a black van drove away with a tied-up Casey and Inque strapping herself off the top of the vehicle. Ezra and Norbit got up and saw the van driving away.

"No! We're too late!" Ariana said. She turned to Kirana. "Kirana, what do we do?"

"Inque maybe powerful for us and we can't take her on, but we gonna save Casey." Kirana said.

"And also our home!" Camilla added.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Talia grinned.

"Yeah!" Ezra agreed. "You in, Norbit?"

"I am ready, Ezra." Norbit said.

"But how are we gonna catch them on foot?" Ariana asked.

"Who says we are?" Kirana said with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 raced down the street in the Turbo Karts. Each Turbo Kart has a slightly more curved bodywork with a white bumper and a hood of different color palettes that matches the mage's custom color with anti-gravity wheels. The engine is on the back of the kart that is blocked with two circles on each side of it. Kirana sat on the blue kart, Camilla sat on the red kart, Ariana sat on the purple kart, Talia sat on the orange kart, and Ezra sat on the teal kart. Norbit was sitting with Ezra in his kart while wearing a helmet. The mages also wore black futuristic shield sunglasses that features a single rimless lens that is curved and has a molded nosepiece at the bottom. As the driver, Kirana accelerated the kart to pick up the speed.

"This is so cool!" Talia yelled with a smile.

"This is crazy, Kirana!" Ariana shouted. "The karts aren't complete yet!"

"These vehicles are incredibly enhanced." Norbit said to Ariana.

"I don't know if Ariana is right or wrong about this." Ezra shouted.

"You're sure about that?" Kirana shouted back with a smirk. "Now where's Inque?"

"Just around a corner!" Camilla replied, looking at the radar from her kart.

Kirana drove the Turbo Karts around the right corner of the street and finally caught up to the hijacked truck. Inque saw the K-5 and Norbit approaching towards the truck and commanded the Shadow Ninjas to attack them. Ariana put on a small grin and summoned arrows made of earth to fire them at the Shadow Ninjas on impact, sending the evil ninjas lying painfully on the street ground. As the K-5 continued pursuing their enemies, Ariana was able to read the name of the machine on the truck and quickly figured out Lady Shade's plan.

"Guys, this was Shade's plan all along!" Ariana cried. "This truck is full of Hassam! They are extremely dangerous microscopic insectoid machines that reacts violently to metal! If they get contact to the fortress, it will incinerate our home and our mother in seconds!"

"Then, we'll split up!" Kirana said firmly. "Ariana, you, Camilla, and Norbit save Casey! Talia, Ezra, you're both with me!"

"Alright!" Ariana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra agreed with nods.

Norbit carefully walked to Ariana's kart and sat by her. Kirana pressed a green button in her kart, causing the Turbo Kart to detach five sidecars for the mages to drive individuality. The truck and the van drove off in two different directions, but the K-5 were able to keep track on the vehicles. Camilla and Ariana drove off to save Casey from the Wuju Twins while Kirana, Talia, and Ezra drove off to stop Inque.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ariana and Camilla have caught up to the white van, they drove up to the side of the van with smirks on their faces. Ariana threw a smoke bomb in the van to blind Juli's eyes and Camilla threw five small prong spikes on the ground to pop the tires. Camilla and Ariana have pulled to a stop, getting out of the Turbo Karts in their offensive stances. Norbit got out of the kart and stood behind Camilla and Ariana. The Shadow Ninjas quickly jumped out from the back of the van and charged forward to attack the mages, who had easily defeated them with their power combination attack. Juli and Juni slowly walked up to the mages for a sneak attack, but they got easily knocked out by Casey, who kicked the van door wide open after he untied himself.

"Nice one, Casey!" Ariana smiled.

"Cool karts, Ariana." Casey said with a smile. "Those are some wicked wheels."

"Yeah, the karts were my idea." Ariana giggled sheepishly.

Suddenly, the engines inside the Turbo karts just exploded.

"Yeah, they're not ready." Ariana sighed.

"Ariana, your karts can still be repaired." Norbit said. "It will require a lot of focus and mind thinking."

"We got that, Norbit. Thanks though." Ariana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Talia, Ezra, and Kirana have caught up to the tanker truck, they drove up close to the truck and unleashed several small prong spikes on the ground to pop the tires. Kirana, Talia, and Ezra have pulled to a stop, getting out of the Turbo Karts in their offensive stances and charged forward against the ink mage mutant. Inque's polymorph strength and shapeshifting fluid had still proven to be tough for the mages. Talia created several blades of wind that attacked Inque, who stumbled back from that attack. Kirana turned around to see one Shadow Ninja stepping out of the truck and began throwing a deadly glass sphere that contains the Hassam inside out in the sky with fast reflexes. Kirana's eyes widened wide in shock when the glass sphere broke and the Hassam began swarming around on their search for the fortress, but that quickly made her remembered what Ariana just said earlier.

"Talia, quick! Let's create a bomb!" Kirana ordered. "And don't even think about throwing that water balloon!"

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Talia asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Kirana snapped as she pointed her finger to the balloon that was hidden behind Talia's back. "I have water magic, remember? I can sense that water balloon since the beginning."

Kirana lifted her hand out and clenched it into a fist, causing the water inside the balloon to explode in Talia's hand once again.

"Seriously?" Ezra asked.

"I swear nothing can get past you." Talia said.

Talia joined hands with Kirana and they both concentrated on their magical powers.

"Bakudan!" Kirana and Talia chanted.

As Kirana and Ariana casted, bright beams of blue and orange energy was released from the mages' auras and formed together to create a silver medium-sized bomb. Talia threw the bomb at the laser cannon, causing all the Hassam to fly towards the bomb in fast speed. As the Hassam began incinerating the bomb, the explosive weapon had detonated itself that took the Hassam with it in seconds. Then, Kirana waved her hands to manipulate water out of thin air and formed it into the shape of a massive pillar to strike the truck, the Shadow Ninjas, and Inque from below before summoning a stream of big bubbles from her hands that hit the enemies at great force.

"Great job with the bomb, Talia." Kirana grinned.

Suddenly, Talia exposed Kirana and Ezra with a second water balloon in the face.

"Oh yes! Told you that I'll get you!" Talia cheered.

"I have to admit, Talia. I did not see that coming." Kirana grinned surprisingly. "Although, I still have no idea where you keep those balloons with you."

"But there is one mage left to get wet." Ezra smirked.

Ezra swifted his hand at Talia and water got all over her face.

Then, Ariana and Camilla ran up to join their sisters.

"Well, looks like we missed the action!" Camilla smiled with a chuckle.

"Nice job on the Turbo Karts, Ariana!" Kirana grinned.

"Thanks, Kirana." Ariana grinned. Her happy face changed into a serious look. "But they're still not ready."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Inque had returned to Lady Shade's headquarters. She had walked through the doors to see Lady Shade in her chair and approached her to kneel her knees down.

"They defeated you with karts and a bomb?" Lady Shade questioned with a growl.

"I know it sounds unreasonable, but I promise you it won't happen again, mistress." Inque explained quickly.

"Fine, but if you break that promise, your life will be very unfortunate." Lady Shade said threateningly.

Lady Shade manifested a large black energized spiked flail from her hands and hit Inque with it that sent her to the wall as an incoming punishment.

"I understand, mistress." Inque said weakly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 sat on the couch with some victory pizza in the living room.

"My children, I owe you all an apology from before." Sage said as she levitated herself into the living room.

"For what, mother?" Kirana asked confusingly.

"For letting my fear of Lady Shade destroying all of you clouding my mind." Sage replied. "But you all have overcome that fear and made me proud. So, as for today, no training."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra cheered excitedly. But Talia released a mischievous smile as she conjured up her last water balloon in her hand behind her back and got ready to prepare her throw. Unfortunately, Kirana beat her to it once again.

"Wait a minute." Kirana said irritatingly. "What happens if Talia throws her water balloon again?"

"Then, all of you will be training for a whole month nonstop." Sage replied. She turned around to levitate her way to the dojo. "Try all you want, Talia, but you outmatch a master mage like me."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra turned to stare at Talia dangerously, making the orange mage kunoichi chuckle nervously.

"You are so dead!" Camilla shouted.

Talia made a run for it with a scream, but she quickly got tackled by her three older sisters and younger brother to the floor.


	11. Chapter Eleven

At the dojo, the K-5 were practicing Taidō as part of their training session with Sage watching them. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra were moving the way of the bodies very slightly, Camilla was moving the way of the body in quick accuracy, and Kirana was moving the way of the body slowly and gracefully.

"What's the matter?" Camilla said to Kirana. "Trying to learn a new move in slow motion?"

"At least, I could perfect my moves to become a better kunoichi unlike you." Kirana retorted calmly.

"Oh yeah? Try ignore this!" Camilla snapped.

Kirana and Camilla charged forward to attack each other with fast, swift kicks. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra stopped practicing and watched the fight between their older sisters.

"Oh brother." Talia sighed.

"They're at it again." Ariana said with a groan.

"They just never seem to stop." Ezra complained.

"Enough!" Sage shouted as she stepped forward between her older daughters.

Kirana and Camilla immediately stopped attacking each other and turned to face their mother.

"Competition is an excellent motivator for many ninjas and kunoichis, but not when it turns the two of you against each other." Sage said. "So right now, you will spar two on two and a solo."

"Okay." Kirana said as she placed her hands on her hips. "I take Ariana."

"You will take Camilla." Sage said firmly.

Kirana and Camilla shot each other a cautious glance. They are completely different girls: Kirana is more serious, mature, focused, and responsible while Camilla is more tough, sarcastic, mean, and cynical. Putting them together isn't a good idea.

"You two must focus on working together, not competing with each other." Sage continued. "Ezra will be a solo fighter."

Ezra widened his eyes. He's never been a solo fighter before because his sisters were always with him.

"Ezra needs practice on his magic skills." Sage said simply.

"So, let me get this straight. You want me and Camilla to go up against Talia and Ariana?" Kirana giggled slightly. "I don't find that fair."

Ariana and Talia looked offended by Kirana's words.

"Uh, excuse me. What's that supposed to mean?" Ariana snapped with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it's really simple. We're way better fighters than you two combined." Camilla responded with a grin.

"As if." Talia scoffed.

"Let's put that to the test." Camilla grinned.

"But it's unfair to Ezra." Talia said.

Ezra immediately widened his eyes and glared at his sisters.

"What are you trying to say?" Ezra questioned, a bit anger.

"Well, Ezra, no offense but your a kid." Kirana explained.

"Don't take it the wrong way. Your just a boy." Talia said.

"Oh? Fine." Ezra glared.

Ariana looked furious and Talia glared at her two older sisters as they both have accepted the challenge while Ezra just glared at his four older sisters. The siblings faced each other into offensive stances as Kirana and Camilla looked confident while Ariana and Talia looked more determined than ever. However, Ezra kept his preparation on track.

"Hajimé!" Sage shouted.

With rapid punches and kicks, Kirana fought against Talia and Camilla fought against Ariana. Kirana and Camilla tagged each other with laughs and swapped places as Kirana fought against Ariana and Camilla fought against Talia. Immediately, Ariana and Talia fell to the ground beaten in defeat. Ezra tried to fight but Kirana and Camilla easily knocked him down. Ezra lifted his head up while he was on the ground in defeat.

"Yamé!" Sage shouted again.

Kirana and Camilla grinned down at their younger sisters, who were groaning in pain.

"You know, mother?" Camilla smiled proudly. "You're right. Working together is fun."

Ezra suddenly got up and stomped out of the dojo.

"Ezra, it will be alright. Just-." Sage tried to explain.

"Stop saying everything will be alright!" Ezra yelled as he walked out.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia looked at their younger brother in shock and looked guilty for hurting his feelings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Shadow Clan HQ, Inque slithered inside the throne room and knelt one knee down to the floor as Lady Shade stared down at her henchwoman on her throne chair.

"Mistress Shade, the Wuju Twins agreed to raise our cut to 90% for the clan's services." Inque informed.

"It would have seemed that your mutated form has its advantages." Lady Shade said. "But locating Sage and the K-5 is our primary goal. Don't everforget that."

"If I weren't stuck in here, I would have caught Sage by now." Sapphire grumbled.

Inque looked at the left side of the throne room to see Sapphire sealed inside a glass spherical bubble created by Donna because of her unstable mutant ghostly abilities.

"Such a shame even for you." Inque smirked.

"Just wait till I get out of here!" Sapphire snapped.

"Enough Sapphire!" Lady Shade spoke coldly. "Scarlett is right. You are useless to me with your uncontrolled powers in that rate." She then turned back to Inque. "I'm counting on you. Find me information for my future plans, or Sapphire won't be the only one missing her face."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 were relaxing in the living room. Ariana sat on the couch with her touchscreen pad next to Talia, who was sitting upside down and playing her orange handheld game console in her hands. Camilla floated herself in mid-air as she was reading her favorite horror comic book. Kirana was sitting on the floor watching her favorite show on TV with a plate of pizza in her hand. And Ezra was sitting on the recliner with his K-Phone in his hands. But Ariana and Talia were still furious that Kirana and Camilla beat them in training because they believed that they were no chance against their two older sisters, so they just gave her the silent treatment. However, Ezra was the most furious at his sisters for making him feel weak about fighting for himself just because he is the youngest in the family.

"Look, we know you two are upset because you both are still the important member of this team." Kirana said to Ariana and Talia.

"Just because you two are way better fighters than us." Ariana said sarcastically as she didn't bother to look up her oldest sister.

Kirana and Camilla exchanged glances on each other.

"Pretty much." Kirana smiled as she took a bite out of her pizza. "But we shouldn't compare ourselves in every way."

"If it counts, which it is." Camilla muttered.

"So, you're saying that we're inferior compared to you two?" Talia snapped as she sat back up and glared at her older sisters.

"How brilliant, Talia." Camilla laughed. "You finally found a smart question coming out through your thick skull."

"Whatever." Talia said, rolling her eyes and went back to her game console.

"Congratulations, Princess. Now you feel my anger." Ezra said.

"We're sorry we made you mad, Ezra." Talia said. "We were just trying to encourage you. It was just training."

"I'm not talking about training." Ezra said. "On missions, you four never let me do a lot of fighting."

"Sorry, Ezra, but we're four years older than you." Kirana responded. "We're just trying to protect you like mother would want us too."

"I'm basically 11." Ezra said. "I'm not a little kid anymore and I can protect myself."

"Your two magic forms are one thing." Camilla said. "But you still need to learn control."

"You'll come around with them." Ariana said. "Trust us."

"Fine." Ezra huffed.

Suddenly, Casey walked into the living room and sat on the nearby chair. The mages quickly ran over to the teenage vigilante.

"Hey, Casey, what's wrong?" Ariana asked.

"I just got out of the hockey rink and the Wuju Twins stole my phone." Casey said. "Girls or not, no one mugs Casey Jones."

"Don't worry, we'll kick their butts for you." Kirana said firmly.

"Yeah, we'll teach those punks to mess with Casey Jones." Camilla said as she was cracking her knuckles hard.

"Oh, come on, guys. I can't let you all have the fun." Casey said with a smirk. "Besides, I can always get a new phone."

"Casey is right." Sage said as she stood across the room. "It is best to let this go."

"Why?" Kirana asked.

"Because one cannot predict the consequences of battle." Sage replied as she walked towards her children. "Every fight has the potential to stir a hornet's nest. A simple cell phone does not justify this risk."

"Mother, it's the Wuju Twins." Camilla smirked. "Even Talia and Ariana could beat them. And Ezra can barely beat a girl."

"Shut up, Camilla!" Ariana and Talia protested angrily.

"That's it!" Ezra yelled. "I'm sick and tired of you four telling me that I can't be strong enough! Well, you'll all see what I'm capable of! I'll make sure of it!"

Ezra ran out of the Fortress, much to everyone's shock. Norbit activates and walks over to the group.

"I heard a sign of anger." Norbit said. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"I think Ezra got ticked off." Casey replied. "What did you girls do?"

"Don't worry, guys. We'll get him back." Kirana assured.

With that, the K-5 ran towards the fortress exit.

"Heh, what ya gonna do?" Casey smiled with a shrug.

"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with them." Sage replied with a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ezra detected the Wuju Twins spending their time relaxing in their hideout from the rooftop. Juli and Juni were checking out their stolen devices until they got blasted by a powerful fist-shaped blast of fire and hit hard to the far wall. Before he could attack, his sisters jumped down from the ceiling opening and landed their feet on the floor in their offensive stances.

"The K-5?" Juni shouted in surprise as she and her twin sister got up from the floor.

"Sup, twins." Camilla said with a smirk.

"Let's get 'em, sis!" Juli yelled.

Juni charged forward and ready to down Talia, who grinned confidently and summoned wind around her body. But Camilla quickly kicked Juni backwards with a swift kick, leaving the orange mage kunoichi groan under her breath. Ariana charged Juli and was about to attack her with rock gauntlets, but Kirana jumped in front of her and kicked Juli back to the wall that made Ariana snarl at her. The Wuju Twins got easily defeated with Kirana and Camilla teaming up together, much to Ariana and Talia's annoyance.

"We're outta here!" Juni said to Juli.

Unfortunately, Ezra blocked the Wuju Twins from their chance to escape as Kirana walked up to them.

"Ezra..." Talia said.

"I don't wanna talk." Ezra said, harshly.

"You punks stole a phone from a friend of ours." Kirana said threateningly. "We want it back."

"Sweetie, we steal a lot of technology devices around this city." Juli scoffed. "What's your excuse?"

"Then, let's see 'em." Kirana said. "Now!"

A couple seconds later, the K-5 were surrounded with a large stash of stolen devices from the Wuju Twins. The mages saw a bunch of cameras, computers, radios, and a whole lot of phones. Ariana found a black iPhone that belongs to Casey. But suddenly, the ground started to shake and the floor was cracked open. The mages watched as a dozen of small metallic silver cat-like robots jumped out of the crack and grabbed the stolen devices in their tails before jumping back to the opening floor. The K-5 then saw the Wuju Twins quickly escape with Casey's phone.

"They got the phone!" Kirana yelled. "Ariana, Talia, get them! Ezra, stay here in case more of those machines show up! We'll handle the other metal kitties!"

"Whatever." Ezra groaned.

"Hey, wait a second!" Ariana retorted.

"Just shut up and do it!" Kirana snapped.

"And you know who to call if you're too ashamed to handle it on your own." Camilla grinned.

"But I wanna do some fighting!" Ezra argued.

"Just follow the plan." Kirana told him.

Kirana and Camilla followed the cat robots through the tunnel, leaving Ariana, Talia, and Ezra alone in the dark room.

"Let's go get Casey's phone." Ariana sighed to Talia.

Ariana and Talia went outside the door and jumped up to the rooftops. Ezra growled in frustration. But, he saw the back door and smirked.

"Maybe I'll go my own way." Ezra said. "It is solo for me after all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kirana and Camilla followed the tunnel, they found themselves inside an old warehouse laboratory where they faced against a familiar techno mage, who was obviously the mastermind behind the cat robots.

"Well done, my darlings." Donna laughed with a smile.

"Donna!" Camilla said.

"If you're here to stop me again, then you won't stand a chance against my Nanocats." Donna said. "The robbery was a successful test run, but now it's time to move on to the big guns."

Donna held out her armored gloves and sprayed the mage kunoichis with a red mist, making Kirana and Camilla cough hard as they believed that the mist is deadly. But then, Kirana and Camilla realized that the mist have done nothing to them that left them completely confused.

"Wait a minute. That's it?" Camilla asked.

"Yeah, I was expecting something deadly out of you, Donna." Kirana said.

"Oh, but that's the best part." Donna said deviously.

Suddenly, all the Nanocats came charging at the mage kunoichis altogether with their metallic claws. But Kirana and Talia quickly destroyed them one by one with amazing speed and power.

Unfortunately, Donna snapped her fingers and hundreds of Nanobots came into the room from the secret compartment.

"Uh, time to go!" Kirana cried.

"Way ahead of you!" Camilla agreed.

Kirana and Camilla quickly made their way into the streets with an army of Nanobots on their heels. Donna giggled viciously, but she got taken away by Juni before she had a chance to observe her creation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana and Talia have tracked Juli to an abandoned cosmetic factory. They quietly looked keenly through the skylight and became shocked to see Juli holding up Casey's phone to Inque.

"Oh, great." Talia said with a groan. "Not only we got Juli to deal with, but we have to take down Inque too. Even though they insulted us earlier, we should contact Kirana and Camilla for emergency."

"And listening them bragging about they are better than us? Forget it!" Ariana said fiercely.

"So, then what are we gonna do against Juli and Inque?" Talia asked.

"We need a stealth diversion, so we can grab the phones." Ariana said, looking back at Juli and Inque closely. "And I know just the spell to do it."

"Surprise me." Talia said with an impish grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ezra was walking in the alleys to try and track the Wuju Twins.

"If I can find those bratty girls, maybe my sisters will know I'm strong enough." Ezra huffed.

Suddenly, Ezra saw something glowing in an abandoned store. Ezra summoned his shield and snuck inside. He saw empty shelves and empty cash registers. He went into the storage room and widened his eyes. Inside the room, there were very unique items and books on shelves. The items were different liquids and elements and the books either had different languages or unknown languages.

"Whoa." Ezra said.

Ezra curiously took one of the spell books and looked inside to find many spells and curses.

"This must be ancient sorcery." Ezra thought. "But why would someone hide all of this?"

Ezra then saw a dusty picture frame and cleaned it to reveal a picture of a infant boy with white hair and ocean blue eyes. Ezra then saw the infant being held by his father. The father had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Ezra saw the writing on the picture and read it out loud to himself.

"Our family is small but the miracles are too great." Ezra said. "For my son, Ezra. From your father, Dastren."

Ezra gasped and dropped the book and the picture as he stepped back. He slid down the wall and put his hands on his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana and Camilla raced across the rooftops while being chased by the Nanocats at the same time. They used their elemental magic to escape the robotic cats, but they can't fool every single one of the Nanocats.

"How do those cats keep tracking us?" Kirana wondered.

"It has to be that stuff Donna sprayed on us!" Camilla replied.

"Maybe my water magic can clear us up." Kirana suggested.

Kirana motioned her hands around and created a barrier of water that surrounded herself with her younger sister to wash off the spray. But that has proven to be unsuccessful and the entire Nanocats had surrounded the mages after Kirana vanished the water barrier out of thin air.

"This is ridiculous. We need to call Ariana." Lee said. "Her technological expertise can help us against the Nanocats."

"No way! Not a chance!" Camilla said stubbornly. "We are not going to act chicken by Ariana and Talia!"

"What about Ezra?" Kirana asked.

"Forget it! If we call our brother, we'll put him in danger." Camilla said.

The whole army of Nanocats approached the mages slowly and dangerously to Kirana and Camilla.

"Okay, call Ariana." Camilla sighed frustratingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana was twirling her purple glowing index finger around in a circle as she and Talia sat against the skylight.

"So are you sure this is gonna work?" Talia asked.

"Trust me, it's flawless." Ariana replied. She immediately felt her K-Phone vibrating from her waist belt and took it out to answer the call. "What do you want? Talia and I are kinda in the middle of something important."

"Uh, you called me." Ezra responded.

"Ezra?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah, who did you think it was?" Ezra asked.

"I made a group call to you three." Kirana said.

"Is that Kirana?" Talia asked with a smug grin. "But don't tell me she and Camilla need our help on their important mission?"

"Yeah, do you and Camilla need our help?" Ariana grinned.

"Uh, heck, no!" Kirana replied. "Camilla and I are just fine. We're just checking to see if you two need any help."

Unknown to three mages, Kirana and Talia sat on top of the nearby water tower with the Nanocats slashing their claws through the wood below.

"Sure they are." Talia laughed.

"Not at all. We followed Juli to the cosmetic factory." Ariana said with a smirk. "How are you guys doing?"

"I, uh, found out why I have my second power." Ezra gulped.

"Really?" Camilla asked. "What did you find?"

"It turns out that my biological father was...a sorcerer." Ezra said.

"What?!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia said, in shock.

"So, Ezra is a sorcerer?!" Talia asked.

"Which sorcerer was your father?" Ariana asked.

"His name is Dastren." Ezra answered.

"Dastren?" Talia asked. "Mother has mentioned a bunch of sorcerers, but she never mentioned him."

"That's because he was forgotten." Ezra said. "Are you sure you guys are ok?"

"Oh, we're good." Kirana replied.

"Maybe I can catch up to you girls and help out." Ezra said. "I'll be there in a sec."

"Wait!" Ariana said.

"Ezra!" Kirana said.

But they were too late, Ezra already hanged up before he could hear his sisters.

"Uh, gotta go, bye!" Kirana said, before hanging up.

Ariana put her K-Phone away and went back to her spell with Talia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the rooftop, Kirana quickly put away her K-Phone and turned to Camilla with a panic look.

"We're screwed, are we?" Camilla asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Kirana replied with a nod.

Kirana summoned a pair of water wings extending from her back and grabbed Camilla's arms before soaring away from the water tower and high above the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the futon factory, Ariana and Talia peered into the building as they watched Juni dragging Donna into the building to Inque. The girls exchanged a look and quietly opened the skylight window to keep themselves as silent as possible.

"Found her." Juni reported. "She's the one who used her robots to steal our stuff."

"To be fair, I was actually helping." Donna spoke with a grin.

"Oh really?" Inque asked "Explain."

"I've created my Nanocats to destroy the K-5 at my command." Donna explained. "Well, only two of them."

"So, you make robots. So, you're a mage with expertise on electronics." Inque said.

"The one and only!" Donna said confidently.

"Then, hack into this phone." Inque said, holding up Casey's phone. "We need something valuable within it."

"Not a problem." Donna scoffed.

As Juni released Donna from her grasp, Donna snapped her fingers and conjured up a grey miniature supercomputer in her hand. A black USB cable slithered out to plug itself into Casey's phone with a hint of Donna's magic. Before Donna could get started on her hacking magic, all the lights were cut off that left everyone in a complete darkness.

"What's going on?" Inque hissed sharply.

In a nick of speed, Talia snatched the phone in the darkness. The two mage kunoichis ran for the exit as their plan was a success. Well, almost. The only thing the girls didn't know is that Inque was slithering right behind them. The ink mystic mutant pinned the girls down to the floor with her arm whips just when the lights were turned back on.

"Well, it's official. That plan didn't work at all." Talia commented nervously.

"Get the chains!" Inque ordered to the Wuju Twins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the rooftops, Ezra was running to find his sisters as fast as he could. Ezra pulled out a jar of yellow dust and threw it out to make the dust make a trail for Ezra to find his sisters.

"Hang on, guys." Ezra said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Wuju Twins took out the chains to hand them over to the ink mystic mutant. Inque chained the two mage kunoichis to the wall, leaving the girls to watch Donna's efforts on hacking into Casey's phone with her supercomputer. Ariana then realized that she has installed a GPS system in the phone that will allow Donna to see every place the phone has been, including the location of the Crete Fortress.

Out of the corner of her eye, Inque found the K-Phones from the girls' ninja belts and took them away.

"I'm letting Donna hack these as well." Inque grinned.

"Uh no." Talia whispered to Ariana. "Do something!"

"K-Phone, self-destruct!" Ariana commanded.

Inque suddenly dropped the K-Phones when the phones did exactly what Donna commanded. She let out a loud hiss and approached the purple mage kunoichi threateningly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ezra arrived at the place and looked through the skylight. He saw Ariana and Talia being chained up while the bad guys were working on their own thing.

"Uh-oh." Ezra said. "I gotta think of something. But what?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Kirana and Camilla could see the Nanocats are chasing after them again below. Kirana kept flying high in the air while Talia created large blazing orbs of fire in her hands and launched them at the Nanocats one by one. But unfortunately, the girls are confronted by more Nanocats.

"That's it! I'm calling Ariana!" Kirana said. She flipped Camilla over on her back and took out her cell phone to call Ariana and then Talia for the second time, but neither Talia nor Ariana were answering their phones. "Something's wrong! They're not answering!"

"Then, use your aura sense to track them down." Camilla said.

Kirana nodded her head and focused on her powers when her blue glowing spade-shaped birthmark appeared faintly on her chest area. She finally sensed only two colorful auras detecting inside the factory building and one colorful aura on top of the factory building when the glow from her birthmark faded away.

"Found them!" Kirana shouted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the top of the building, Ezra was looking through a spell book to find something he could use. He stopped at a page about an energy ball trick.

"Energy ball." Ezra said. "I can use this for a surprise attack and save my sisters."

After putting the book away, Ezra snuck in the factory. He concentrated and used his magic to make a teal energy ball. He threw it at Donna and she fell off the chair and landed on the floor. Inque and the Wuju Twins looked at the other direction and saw Ezra walking out to face them. Donna got up and saw Ezra.

"It's the younger one of the K-5." Donna said.

"You got that right." Ezra glared. "Now give me the phone and let my sisters go."

"What will you do?" Inque said. "Your just a boy, that's about to get hurt badly."

Kirana glided herself down to the hideout straight ahead and went bursting inside through the skylight. The two mage kunoichis landed onto the floor and stood in their offensive stances just as Inque was about to strike at Ezra.

"Not so fast, ladies!" Kirana said.

"Wait a minute! How did you two escape my Nanocats?" Donna asked with a surprising face.

"Yeah, about that." Kirana replied with a smile.

Camilla pointed her finger up to the shattered skylight and everyone looked up to see more Nanocats came pouring down into the building. Most of them fell on Inque that had perfectly distracted her from lunging at Kirana and Camilla. The Wuju Twins left the building as a retreat while Donna was trying to focus on her hacking magic. Ezra swiped his arm and sent out scythe-like blades of lightning at the chains, freeing both Ariana and Talia in the process.

"We saved your lives. You're welcome." Camilla taunted with a smile.

"Thanks for the save. Looks like you two were doing really great on those robots." Ariana said sarcastically.

"Hey, we're been trying to get rid of them all the way here!" Camilla snapped, pointing her finger at the cat robots. "Besides, Donna used her magic to spray us with some red tracking mist!"

The K-5 doesn't have time to finish their conservation as they went to the fight between Inque and the Nanocats. They delivered their elemental magic at the cat robots. Kirana grabbed Casey's phone from Donna and threw it to Camilla, who was barely running to keep the cell phone away from Inque. As the ink mage mutant was chasing after the orange mage kunoichi, Ariana immediately figured out something about the Nanocats after she helped her older sisters with her earth magic.

"I've got it!" Ariana shouted to Kirana and Talia. "The red spray is some sort of radio-isotope that the Nanocats can be used to detect! but it can't be washed off unless someone gives out a stronger signal with that spray!"

"So, if we used Ariana's armored gloves, we can use it to control her Nanobots." Kirana said.

"Like those?" Camilla asked, pointing her finger to the armored gloves in Donna's hand.

"Yeah, that will be them." Ariana replied.

Camilla smiled cunningly and released two flaming shurikens piercing on Donna's armored gloves. That made Donna stopped hacking and looked down to her gloves with wide eyes as she watched red mist spraying all over her. Talia performed a backflip over Inque and created an enormous tornado from her hands, hitting the ink mage mutant from behind with great force and send Inque flying straight into the red mist with Donna. The Nanocats suddenly froze from approaching close to the K-5 and began chasing Sage and Inque. As she didn't have time to grab for Casey's phone, Inque scooped up Donna in her arms and made a run out of the building with dozen of Nanocats on her tail. Ezra grabbed the phone but it immediately broke into pieces in his hand.

"Oh boy." Ezra said. "This is gonna be fixed soon."

"Well done, guys!" Kirana cheered.

"Yeah, I have to admit us as a team is way better than individuals." Camilla said, throwing her arm over Talia and Ariana's shoulders. "From here on out, we stick together no matter what."

"Now, that's the best idea you ever said." Ariana commented.

"And Ezra, you're our honorable member." Kirana said.

"Yeah, that was an awesome energy ball you made." Ariana said.

"That was wicked." Camilla said.

"You have the hands of a god." Talia said.

"Thanks, girls. That means a lot to me." Ezra said. "Sorry I got angry."

"No, we're sorry for making you feel that way." Kirana said. "You are strong, Ezra. In your heart."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra hugged each other as they teleported themselves back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the mages started to relax themselves after their successful mission. Talia turned on her radio for hip-hop music and began performing her best breakdancing moves, Camilla was feeding her pet cat Samson, Ezra was on his K-Phone, and Kirana and Ariana were playing her handheld game console. Then, Casey walked out of the dojo and into the living room.

"Hey Casey." Kirana smiled. "We got your phone back."

"You did? Cool!" Casey said enthusiastically.

Kirana held out the phone to Casey's hands and it broke down slowly.

"Well, on the bright side, it didn't fall in the wrong hands." Kirana said awkwardly.

"It's okay. This phone was always a bust to me anyway." Casey said with a shrug.

"Don't worry, Casey." Ariana grinned as she held out a black smartphone. "You can have one of my custom-built K-Phones."

"Wow, this is sick, Ariana!" Casey smiled as he took the K-phone.

"But whenever you do, don't say K-Phone self-destruct." Talia warned.

Then suddenly, the K-Phone exploded immediately on Casey's hands.

"Or else that." Talia smiled sheepishly.

"Good thing we make extras." Ezra said, giving a second black K-Phone to Casey.

"Thanks." Casey said, as he took the K-Phone.

Norbit activates and walks over to Ezra.

"Ezra, you are feeling nervous. Is this about your father and you being a sorcerer?" Norbit asked.

"It is, Norbit." Ezra admitted. "It's a new part of my life now. I guess I have to get started soon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Inque walked through the doors and approached Lady Shade to the room.

"My mistress, this is the mage who has vast knowledge of technology." Inque informed as she dropped Donna down to the floor.

"Donna." Lady Shade said coldly. "Your interference have made Inque failed on capturing the K-5 and tracking down Sage."

Donna got up from the floor and stared at Lady Shade with a calm look on her face.

"But, your vast power on technology may be useful for me, after all." Lady Shade said.


	12. Chapter Twelve

In a Kraang compound, a squad of Kraang are chasing after a slender foxlike creature that has many cables trailing from its limbs. The slender creature looked like an extremely strong female fox. She has thick luxurious white fur that sweeps out to either side above her black legs, arms, and neck. She also has large white pointed ears, gleaming red eyes, and sharp teeth. The foxlike creature fought viciously against the Kraang squad, leading her victorious escape into the streets of New York.

But suddenly, one of the Kraang's laser gun hit the creature's arm. Despite getting wounded in the arm, the creature was able to escape into the streets undetected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the K-5 are having a casual relaxing day. Camilla was playing on her red handheld game console, Ariana was doing mystical research on her laptop, Ezra was listening to music on his K-Phone, Talia was cooking something special in the kitchen, and Kirana was flipping through channels with the remote.

"Who wants to try my red velvet brownies?" Talia announced as she entered the living room with a tray of brownies in her hands.

Camilla, Ariana, Ezra, and Kirana turned to look at the tray that Talia was holding.

"Sure." Ariana said.

Talia's eyes glowed bright orange and four mini tornadoes lifted plates of brownies as each one levitated itself to each mage's lap before they vanished into harmless breeze.

"Thanks." Ariana smiled.

Ariana, Ezra, Camilla, and Kirana took a bite with delightful smiles. Then suddenly, a TV news story caught their attention.

"I'm Joan Grody." A female human reporter announced. "With a building shocking news about city construction workers attacked...by mutant creatures?"

"Huh?" Ezra said.

"The creature was like part woman, part fox." A frightening construction worker said to Joan Grody on the camera. "It came out of nowhere and started attacking me!"

Kirana and Ariana stared at Camilla as they believed that one of her rebellious spells has something to do with the news story.

"Hey, it wasn't me!" Camilla said defensively. "I swear!"

"Are there more malicious mutants menacing Manhattan?" Joan Grody announced onscreen. "Find out next on Grody to the Max."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Ariana said slowly.

"We've got to track this mutant down and stop it ourselves." Kirana said. "Let's move."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the K-5 walked through the abandoned building that was shown on TV, they found a trail of medium-sized footprints that looked somewhat normal than any average mutants they fought before. They followed the mutant footprints until they heard a loud hiss and the sound of gunshots echoing the room. The mages ran forward and looked around the corner to watch a beautiful female snow fox mutant battling against another squad of Kraang as they hid at the entrance to the tunnel and peeked out to watch the whole battle in shock and surprise. The mutant snow fox was ripping the Kraang droids to shreds with her claws as the Kraang's laser guns continue to fire neon pink energy laser blasts at her, which only made the mutant snow fox's anger pushing further and made her screech furiously.

"You know, I have never thought I would ever feel sorry for the Kraang until now." Ariana said to her siblings.

"Agreed." Kirana said with a nod.

The K-5 turned back to the battle as they watched the Kraang droids stunned the mutant snow fox with short thin silver sticks with neon pink electrocution.

"Tell Kraang in what place can be found the power cell that Kraang wishes to find the place of." One of the Kraang droids demanded.

"Forget it." The mutant snow fox growled. "I will never tell."

Then, the Kraang zapped the mutant snow fox until she fell on the ground unconsciously. Talia couldn't take the horror anymore and turned to her older sisters with a worry look on her face.

"C'mon, we have to help her!" Talia said urgently.

"Are you insane?" Camilla said. "There's no way we're going way near this fight!"

"Talia, that creature could be more dangerous than the Kraang or any other mutants we know." Kirana said.

"But that fox needs our help!" Talia snapped. "We all can't just sit here and watch her suffering the pain from the Kraang."

"That fox has shown to be vicious and violent." Ariana pointed out. "I'm not sure if we can even help her despite her fight with the Kraang."

"Fine, I'm going to do something about it with or without your help!" Talia yelled angrily.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra widened their eyes wide open in surprise for their sister's anger that she has never expressed before. Talia charged forward to attack the Kraang with a strong beam of concentrated air that send the alien robots hitting against the wall, leaving her three older sisters watch in shock as they started to realize that their youngest sister has a caring heart for everyone. Especially if it was a mutant. Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, and Ezra summoned out their elemental magic and charged forward to attack the Kraang droids. The fight was over when Talia took down two remaining Kraang droids easily with her wind slices.

"Well, guess that settles it." Ezra said with a shrug.

"So, what's next?" Ariana asked.

"Let's get outta here before more Kraang droids show up." Kirana said firmly.

"And we are taking her with us." Talia said as she ran over to the fox mutant protectively. "We can't just leave her here and let the Kraang find her!"

"We are not taking that monster home with us!" Kirana shouted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "And that's final."

"She's not a monster!" Talia retorted. "She's a Kraang hating mutant! Come on! Please!"

"I'm with Talia, girls." Ezra said. "We're heroes, aren't we? And when did heroes start calling other creatures a monster?"

Talia smiled at her younger brother for sticking up to her.

"Okay, let's do it." Kirana sighed.

Kirana, Ariana, and Camilla helped Talia and Ezra lifted the snow fox back to the fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 placed the snow fox mutant to the couch in the living room.

"I still can't believe Talia had talked us into this." Camilla muttered as she placed her hands on her hips.

Ariana stepped forward into the living room and carried black steel chains in her hands.

"Hey, we are not chaining her!" Talia said with a glare to Ariana.

"Well, we can't keep her in here without being chained." Ariana answered firmly. "Plus, I casted a spell to make this chain totally indestructible."

"Aren't you guys being a bit over dramatic?" Ezra asked Kirana, Camilla, and Ariana. "She's just a snow fox."

Suddenly, the snow fox mutant's red eyes opened and jumped up off the couch to land her feet towards the K-5 with a deadly glare. Her tail immediately seized Ariana by the neck and slammed her mercilessly onto the ground several times. Camilla quickly twisted her hand into a fist and opened her fist at the mutant snow fox to teleport her younger sister on the couch from the fox's tail. Kirana waved her hands around in a circle to release a blue mist that paralyzed the snow fox in the process. Ezra sighed and jumped in to help. Talia, Ariana, Camilla, and Kirana watched their younger brother cast a spell to electrocute the snow fox, causing the mutant to collapse hard to the floor unconsciously.

"Sorry." Ezra said to the snow fox.

"What's all the noise?" Sage demanded as she levitated herself in the living room.

"Ask Talia, mother! She's the one who made us bring the mutant back to attack us!" Camilla explained as she immediately pointed her finger at her youngest sister.

"But she needs our help." Talia retorted.

"Uh, hello! She's a dangerous mutant monster!" Camilla shouted.

"We can't let people judge her by her looks." Talia said. "It's just not right for her or us if everyone else found out who we really are."

"In case you haven't noticed, she had me by the neck, Talia!" Ariana shouted as she got off from the couch and stood next to her younger sister.

"Because she was lost and confused." Talia said.

"So, what's this have to do with the Kraang?" Sage asked.

"She was being hunted by them because she might've hid something important to them." Ezra replied.

"They wanted her to tell them about some power cell by force." Kirana added.

"Well, Talia had made a wise decision." Sage said sternly. "She has a heart to seek compassion through this mutant."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra stared at their mother in surprise as Talia grinned proudly.

"Huh?" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra said in confusion.

"Yes, this is the first time I've ever say that." Sage said with a shrug. "Talia, find a way to befriend her with kindness and obtain information when she awakens."

"You can count on me." Talia said with a wink.

"In the meantime, you four must find the power cell before the Kraang." Sage instructed Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, and Ezra.

"Okay, but after we chain her up first." Ariana said quickly as she held up the black chains in her hands.

"Of course. I am a compassionate woman, not an insane brainiac." Sage commented.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja exited the Crete Fortress on their search for the power cell, Talia was left alone in the kitchen cooking food for the snow fox mutant. Few seconds later, the snow fox mutant woke up to find herself chained to the floor in the living room.

"What's going on?" The snow fox mutant asked as she was struggling to break the chains. "Where am I?"

"Hey, you're awake." Talia smiled as she ran into the living room with a bowl in her hands and stood in front of the mutant. "Look, I'm really sorry about the chains. My siblings had to lock you down, up so you won't attack us."

"And who are you?" The snow fox mutant demanded.

"I'm Talia." Talia introduced with a bright smile. "My siblings and I saved you from the Kraang, but you're safe now." She placed a bowl of fresh noodles on the floor in front of the mutant snow fox. "So, take me my noodle soup."

The snow fox mutant sniffed the noodle soup and tasted the delicious food.

"This meal is delicious." The snow fox mutant smiled.

"I know. Everybody loves my cooking." Talia smiled in delight. She sat down on the floor while the snow fox mutant sat up holding the bowl to finish eating the food. "So, what's your name?"

"I actually don't have one." The snow fox mutant replied with a frown.

"That's awful. But lucky for you, I'm totally good at naming stuff." Talia gasped. She got up and looked around at the snow fox mutant from top to bottom. "I've got it! I'll call you Mala! It's perfect for you!"

"Then, I forever keep that name." The snow fox mutant now known as Mala smiled. "Thank you."

"Hey, it's what I do." Talia grinned, sitting back on the floor. "But why did you attack my sister Ariana with your tail?"

"Ever since the Kraang experimented me when they took me away from my home, I began to lose control of myself." Mala explained with an ashamed look on her face. "But I do feel sorry for the things that I have done. A monster like me deserves to be chained for other's safety."

"Or maybe you think that you are a monster because people treats you that way." Talia said softly.

"You are very wise, young one." Mala said with a nod.

"Yeah, I get that a lot occasionally." Talia chuckled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Talia's three older sisters and younger brother explored a closed empty building in search of the power cell, thanks to Ariana's tracking system back at the lab. They were searching through the metal body parts from the Kraang droids on the floor in a dark basement. When Camilla tossed away the droid's arm over her shoulder, it landed somewhere to the wall. Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra ran to Camilla's side and watched as the purple mage kunoichi touched the wall and focused on her earth powers to open it in half that led the mages to the secret passageway. They quietly walked into the passageway until they came upon the hall that is riddled with homemade booby traps ready to set on them as primary targets once the place started to shake.

"Booby traps!" Ezra exclaimed. "We gotta move!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra ran down the hall screaming out loud as many flying road signs began flying and stabbing towards them while several floor spikes started popping out of the ground that almost impaled them below. The mages realized they were trapped when they came across the dead end wall. That's when Ariana lifted her hands in front of her face and opened the wall through her earth-based magic. The mages jumped forward and landed safety on the ground inside the chamber.

"You know, being a mage can be quite helpful sometimes." Camilla said.

Suddenly, a large stop sign came flying out of nowhere into the chamber towards the girls. Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra dodged down and watched the sign attached itself in the wall. Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra turned around to notice that their red mage sister's head was gone, causing them to scream in terror until Camilla pulled her head out of her body with a quick touch of her magic.

"Especially in crazy situations." Camilla said with wide eyes.

Then, the mages got up from the ground and looked around the chamber. Ariana pressed her hand against the nearby wall and her eyes closed shut as she used her seismic sense to feel something behind it with the most minute vibrations in the earth in many remarkable levels. Ariana opened her eyes quickly and pressed her fingers to the wall, sliding it to crack open. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra gasped when they saw a large glowing pink crystal contained inside the glass tube.

"Wow, no wonder that fox stole this crystal from the Kraang." Ariana said, taking out a couple wires and using the right components to touch the tube. "There's some crazy, amazing amount of energy within the crystal that could power almost anything."

Suddenly, the crystal from the tube shocked Ariana painfully with a flash of pink electricity that sent the purple mage kunoichi flying across the room against the wall with a glare. Even her hair became fuzzy when she was electrified.

"I am really tried to be the only one who always got zapped by Kraang tech!" Ariana yelled in frustration.

"So it can power up anything?" Ezra asked. "Cool."

"But why would that fox want to hide this crystal anyway?" Kirana asked as she stared back at the power cell.

"Let's get this crystal back home and ask her ourselves." Camilla suggested.

"Yeah, but who's gonna ask her?" Ariana asked, fixing her hair with her magic.

Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra exchanged looks before grinning back at their purple mage sister.

"Oh, come on!" Ariana groaned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja came back into the living room with the power cell. Talia quickly ran into her siblings and stood in front of them with some happy news.

"Hey guys!" Talia greeted happily. "I have some great news."

"You didn't set her free, don't you?" Camilla shouted as she, Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra immediately stood over their sister.

"What? No. The great news is that Mala has finally calmed down now." Talia said slowly.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra sighed with relief as they slumped close together.

"And then I set her free!" Talia smiled.

"What?!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra squealed in terror.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra clutched together with their arms to look at Mala, who was still eating the noodle soup with delight on the couch.

"You let that crazed mutant out?" Ariana said nervously. She quickly turned back to Talia with a serious look on her face. "I think you forgot that she grabbed me by the neck. So, I'll remind you one more time. She grabbed me by the neck!"

"Oh, come down. You can't help it when you were so scrawny." Camilla smirked.

"You're not helping." Ariana snapped with a glare.

"Don't worry, girls." Talia smiled. "It's like I said, she's calm now."

"Okay." Kirana said nervously. "So, she's ready to talk about the Kraang?"

"Yup." Talia replied with a smile. "Now, go ahead and ask her."

"Okay, Talia. We trust you." Ezra said, truthfully.

Kirana exchanged nervous glances with Camilla, who nodded her head in agreement. Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra pushed Ariana forward towards Mala with their magic. Ariana turned to glare at her siblings and took a deep breath as she walked forward cautiously with the Kraang power cell from her hands.

"Uh, Mala, do you know why the Kraang are using this crystal?" Ariana asked as she was showing the snow fox mutant the power cell in her hands.

Mala gazed at the power cell and her red eyes glowed radiantly, losing control of herself at the sight of the power cell in Ariana's hands.

"That power cell must be hidden away from the Kraang!" Mala hissed angrily.

Mala seized Ariana's neck again with her tail and held the purple mage kunoichi high in the air.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Ariana shouted as her words choked by the mutant snow fox's tail.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra summoned their elemental magic and ready to take down the mindless snow fox mutant. Kirana attacked first with a water blast, but she got swatted away easily to the wall by Mala's fist. Camilla launched herself into the air and went to attack the snow fox mutant, who threw Ariana at her that caused both red and purple mage kunoichis to land in a pile next to their unconscious older sister. The power cell was released from Ariana's hands and rolled itself on the floor, making Mala turn her face towards the last mages standing. Ezra summoned a lightning bolt and threw it at Mala, but the mutant fox grabbed the bolt and threw it at Ezra, making the teal mage ninja be struck and knocked out.

"Ezra!" Talia shouted, as she ran to his side and held him in her lap.

Talia watched her three sisters passed out to the floor and then turned to watch Mala walking towards her with fear.

Suddenly, Sage arrived in the living room and glared furiously at Mala, who let out a hiss and went to attack Sage. But the white mage's speed and white energy-based magic weren't enough against Mala's catlike reflexes.

"Leave my home!" Sage snapped. "Now!"

Mala did what Sage said and took the power cell with her as she ran out of the fortress.

"Kids, are you alright?" Sage asked, rushing to check on her daughters and son.

"Yeah, we're okay." Ezra grunted as he got himself off the floor with his hands and knees.

"But where's Talia?" Sage asked, looking around to notice that her youngest daughter isn't present in the room.

"Wait a minute. Did she went after Mala?" Ariana inquired as she lifted her head up off the floor.

"Ha! You're joking, right?" Kirana said with a soft chuckle.

Kirana blinked when she looked at the exit with Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra.

"Oh boy." Kirana sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the city, Talia was tracking down Mala with a tracking spell that led her all the way to an empty warehouse. She raced into the entrance and found a room that has bright lights on. Mala settled herself on the floor and played an old vinyl jazz record, calming down her feline rage in the process. She then looked over her shoulder to see Talia opening the doors and walked in the large room.

"Mala, what's the matter with you?" Talia said angrily. "You attacked my family!"

"I'm sorry, Talia. I don't mean to hurt them." Mala said. "I cannot control the dangerous force inside of me. You must stay away from me."

Talia looked at the snow fox mutant sympathically until she turned around to notice that her three older sisters and younger brother had arrived in the room.

"Mala!" Kirana shouted.

Camilla, Ezra, Kirana, and Ariana ran into the room and circled around Talia in their offensive position.

"Get away from Talia or we'll turn you into a fur coat!" Camilla said.

"Please, you must understand." Mala pleaded. "The Kraang are the ones who made me this way. That's why I stole the power cell when I escaped through the portal that they use to travel to earth five months ago."

"But why?" Ezra asked, staring at the power cell with his sisters.

"It's the key to power their portal." Mala explained, holding the power cell in her hands. "Without it, no Kraang can enter or leave this dimension. I swore herself to keep it from their evil intentions, even at the cost of my own life."

Suddenly, a squad of Kraang droids busted through the doors and walked in the room with their laser guns armed and ready. Mala clutched the power cell in her hands protectively.

"Give to Kraang the power cell that the Kraang has come to demand that you give to Kraang!" The Kraang droid demanded.

"It's the Kraang!" Talia cried.

"Quick!" Kirana shouted. "I'll create a shield while you girls attack!"

Kirana quickly conjured up a shield of water that'll protected herself, her siblings, and Mala from inside. Camilla launched several large orbs of fire from her hands, Ezra shot out five lighting zaps at a group of Kraangdroids, Talia released a large pressurized blast of wind from her palms, and Ariana unleashed many spikes of earth at the Kraang droids in their sight. But there were too many Kraang droids that the mages can't hold them very long. Several Kraang droids used their gun saws cut through the water shield, making Kirana drop her knees to the ground. Ezra quickly helped her up.

"This is endless!" Ezra shouted, before shooting more lightning at Kraangdroids.

"We're completely surrounded!" Ella exclaimed as she continued shooting out medium-sized balls of fire at the Kraangdroids.

"We can't hold them off!" Talia cried.

"Ariana, use the power cell to get your spell casting up and running!" Kirana said, turning to the purple mage kunoichi.

"You really expect me to use the crystal to power up my magic?" Ariana asked frantically. "Okay, but I'll need time!"

"I'll buy you some time." Mala said. She walked over to Talia and handed the power cell to the orange mage kunoichi. "You have trusted me, now I am trusting you with the power cell, Talia. I will deal with the Kraang myself."

Kirana moved aside to allow Mala jump out of the water shield to decimate the Kraang squad.

Talia handed Ariana the power cell and Ariana focused on her magic with the crystal. Kirana released her water shield and ran behind Camilla, Talia, and Ezra as they focused their magic on the crystal with Ariana.

"Koko kara watashitachi o terepōto!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra casted.

Thanks to their combined magic, the power cell had supercharged the mages' spell that suddenly rocketed them out of the building at unbelievable speed. The mages screamed loud as they gripped the speeding power cell, but Ariana immediately moved her index finger in a circle and pointed her magic at the entire team. That slowed the mages down and they landed hard on the sandy ground. The K-5 lifted their heads up and looked around to find themselves on the sandy shore.

"Whoa, what a ride." Kirana breathed.

"Where the heck are we?" Camilla asked.

"According to my calculations, we're at the beach." Ariana replied.

"Wow, we should totally come here sometime." Talia said in awe as she looked at the beach.

Ezra looks at a pink seashell and picks it up with a smile.

"This will be perfect little gift to mother." Ezra said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the old warehouse, two badly mangled Kraang came together as they were the only ones that survived the brutal battle against Mala.

"We must notify Kraang that the ones called the K-5 have taken Kraang's power cell from Kraang." The broken Kraang droid informed to the other broken Kraang droid.

Suddenly, Mala approached over the broken down Kraang droids with a glare.

"You two won't be telling anyone anything." Mala snarled. "Not when I'm around."

Mala quickly lunged to annihilate the alien droids with her razor-sharp claws.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Inside an old empty lab, Vela was trying her very best to recreate her camouflage neurochemical on the lab table after the battle between her and the K-5. She paid no attention to the fact that she's surrounded by cages that are filled with strange mystical creatures as the only test subjects available to her research. The creatures have pink bodies with five tentacles, short white crown, red eyes with blue sclera.

"If those mages thought they have stopped me, then they were wrong." Vela said angrily to herself. "Even though these weird jellyfishes are the only ones for my experiments, I almost recreated my camouflage neurochemical combined with their own powers." She held up a syringe of neon green liquid in her hand. "When it is complete, all of those people who rejected me will tremble before the power of Dr. Vela North."

The enraged Vela nearly finished making her serum, unaware of two mystical jellyfish mages were hanging on the power lines above her. Then, some power lines were chewing on that send each one flying into beakers full of volatile chemicals, igniting a large explosion around the empty room. The explosion also caused all of Vela's body to get mutilated and the chemical that she was working on seeped through her scars. All the mystical jellyfish creatures began to flee out of the room from the flames.

"No! Help me! Please!" Vela commanded.

At her words, all the mystical jellyfish creatures came flying back to help their master. That's when Vela discovered her mental control over the mystical jellyfish creatures. Now that she's a mage human hybrid with the ability to control every mystical jellyfish creature at her will, she'll proceed her plans to get her revenge on the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the siblings have a friendly match against Sage. They crouched in a huddle behind their mother for a full-proof plan.

"Ok, here's the plan." Kirana said. "Ariana is gonna strike first."

"Wait, why me?" Ariana hissed. "I'm going to get creamed!"

"Well, getting creamed is part of your everyday training defeat." Camilla joked.

Ariana scowled at her hotheaded sister's words.

"Will this really work than last time?" Ezra asked.

"Trust me. It's all part of my plan to catch mother off guard." Kirana grinned confidently.

"Uh, Kirana, don't get me wrong." Talia remarked. "But us against mother is one way of getting our butts whipped when it comes to your plans."

"Ok, Talia, you attack." Kirana scowled.

"I'm doomed." Talia muttered.

"Alright, now that's outta the way, let's do this!" Camilla snapped impatiently.

The K-5 got up from the floor and silently surrounded their mother, who tilted her head slightly because she can sense her four daughters and son with her eyes closed. Sage stepped one foot forward and ready to defend herself. As Kirana gave her younger sisters a nod, Talia charged Sage from behind and leaped into the air to aim her foot at her mother's head. Sage quickly reached behind to grip the orange mage kunoichi's legs, pulling her closer in her direction and kicking her youngest daughter away. Camilla charged forward and leapt into the air as she was ready to take Sage down. Sage took the red mage kunoichi by the wrist before flipping her onto the ground. Ezra charged forward and jumped to knock Sage down, but she seized the teal mage ninja's arms and flipped him on the ground. Ariana delivered a spinning back kick to her mother's head, but Sage grabbed the purple mage kunoichi's ankle and punched Ariana right into Camilla and Talia. Before Sage spun around to defend herself against Kirana, the blue mage kunoichi sped forward and delivered a punch directly in Sage's face with a quick fist. Ezra, Ariana, Camilla, and Talia gasped as Kirana was shocked at what she just did.

"Mother, I'm so sorry!" Kirana apologized with a gasp.

With Kirana distracted by her apology, Sage grabbed her oldest daughter by the wrist and pinned her on the ground.

"Well done, Kirana." Sage praised as she released her daughter from her grasp. "But you hesitated and that made you vulnerable just when you had the perfect advantage to strike more."

"Understand, mother." Kirana said with a groan as she got up off the floor.

"That will be all for today." Sage said as she walked to her room that was conjoined to the dojo. "Have the rest of a day off."

After Sage entered her room and shut the sliding doors behind her, the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja stood up and surrounded Kirana with smiles on their faces.

"Awesome, Kirana!" Ezra said.

"Kirana! That was...wow!" Talia said in awe.

"Not bad, sis!" Camilla smiled.

"I can't believe you actually tagged mother!" Ariana said. "That was so epic!"

"Well, it was all teamwork, after all." Kirana grinned. "We are definitely getting better every day."

"We might be even close on catching up to mother." Ariana said.

"Yeah, maybe we won't need her to train us at all once we are master mages." Talia agreed.

"I don't know, guys." Ezra said. "Maybe we might still need mother to help us."

From her room, Sage heard her childrens' conservation that left her deeply concern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Ezra's bedroom, the teal mage ninja was reading a spell book and pulled out a candle that was lit. Ezra took a deep breath and concentrated his powers to lift the flame away from the candle. Ezra smiled but the flame immediately distinguished when he didn't focus.

"Darn it." Ezra slumped. "These spells are tricky. I'll get there eventually, I guess."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Vela was observing the whole city from the building rooftop in her new Kurage humanoid form with two Kurages hovering next to her. She has light pink skin and red eyes. She also wore a long-sleeved black bodysuit, dark pink thigh-high boots, and a dark pink hooded cape.

"With my Kurage army, this world will be cowering in the shadows." Vela said cruelly. "Then, I shall reclaim the city and no one will be able to stop me."

With a wave of her hand, Vela unleashed the large number of Kurages to invade the city that created a huge panic for the humans. Casey and Norbit were walking down the street and suddenly saw a bunch of Kurages flying to their direction, causing Casey to grab Norbit and run as fast as he can on his skates without a thought of fighting them.

From the building window, Vela had watched the entire city littered with Kurages scaring the humans at their sight.

"Well done, my Kurages. My plan is working perfectly." Vela said with a smile. "But those five mages are still out there and I know all of you aren't strong enough to stop them on your own." Her two fingers touched her forehead. "But I do sense a master mage who can help us out."

As Vela unleashed her telepathic waves throughout the city, one of the strong waves went up to the sky and into the Crete Fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Sage was quietly meditating herself in the dojo until suddenly she heard the Kurage Queen's voice within her head.

"Join me! Join me!" Vela whispered.

Sage's eyes opened wide as she bent down on the ground and clapped her hands to her forehead with a scream while resisting control from the Kurage Queen that brought her back to reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Instantly, the K-5 heard their mother's scream and rushed inside the dojo. They gasped to see Sage breathing heavily on the floor.

"Mom?" Ezra asked in concern.

"Mother!" Ariana said as she and her siblings helped Sage off the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Sage said weakly.

"Are you sure?" Kirana asked cautiously. "You don't seem..."

Suddenly, the sound of the rock music had interrupted Kirana.

"Hey, it's Casey!" Ariana exclaimed.

Camilla and Talia made kissing sounds, much to Ariana's annoyance. Ariana irritatedly snapped her fingers and two rocky hands from the floor pulled her sisters' faces down to the ground as she took out her K-Phone and answered the call.

"Hey, Casey." Ariana said casually. "What's going on?"

"Ariana, Norbit and I need some help!" Casey said in a panic through the phone. "We're having a little bit of a problem here!"

"Don't worry, Casey! We'll be right there!" Ariana said. She hung up her phone and stared back at her siblings. "Casey and Norbit need our help! We have to go!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 ran across the building rooftops. They could even hear the screaming humans running away from the Kurages below.

"Casey and Norbit are just up ahead." Ezra informed.

"Man, the city is so dark today!" Talia said. "There's flying jellyfishes everywhere."

"Actually, the entire jellyfish population doesn't fly in New York. They're underwater..." Ariana said as she ran on the right side of Talia.

"Do not make me smack you in the head right now!" Camilla said threateningly as she ran on the left side of Talia.

"Uh, guys, we may have a problem." Kirana said.

The K-5 reached to Casey and Norbit's location and stopped on the building ledge. They could see Casey Jones and Norbit hiding behind the rooftop doorway while peeking through the door at the swarm of flying Kurages.

"Look, there they are!" Talia exclaimed.

"We're coming, Casey! Keep Norbit at your side!" Ariana shouted. "Don't move!"

"Casey, I would advise you to please remember caution." Norbit said.

"Easier said than done!" Casey replied.

The K-5 hopped over the building and landed in front of the rooftop doorway, confronting the swarm of Kurages face to face with the mages. Ariana contained Casey in her purple magic sphere she casted while Ezra did the same to Norbit with his teal magic sphere and they went back to the building across from where they stood on as Kirana, Camilla, and Talia quickly followed her. As the Kurages flew towards them, Camilla turned around and unleashed a powerful orb of fire from her palms at them before hopping back to her siblings and her friends. The team looked back to watch several Kurages scattered away from the fire attack. Ariana released Casey and Ezra released Norbit.

"Does anyone know what the heck is going on?" Casey blurted out. "And what are those things?"

"They appear to be sea creatures." Norbit said. "But they are somehow fighting from land instead of the ocean. Do any of you know how that is possible?

"Those are actually Kurages." Ariana explained. "A mystical race of telepathic sea creatures that can be found in the deep seas of the ocean. But since they were well coordinated around the city, there has to be a mage with that higher intelligence on controlling them."

"So, you're saying that you sense a someone is controlling every Kurage in the city." Talia said.

"Wait a minute." Camilla said in realization. "Does a mage with telepathic power can also enslave any people telepathically?"

"But that means that that mage could enslave us or..." Ezra explained in thought.

"Mother!" Kirana exclaimed with her wide eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Sage was floating a bit close to the floor. Her eyes widened open as she found herself standing on ghost white water as a base inside her mind. The place has a pale pinkish background and a glowing white aura.

"Why must you fight?" Vela questioned. "You know you can't resist my control. You will come to me eventually."

"You can't control me." Sage hissed. "But I'm much stronger than you think!"

"That power gave me strength." Vela giggled. "Together, we do anything and we will be unstoppable!"

"No!" Sage shouted. "We're nothing alike! My powers come from peace while your powers come from destruction!"

"Just like your past life ended in destruction." Vela said.

Vela conjured the sight of Sage's former home burning to the ground with her deceased Caesar dead on the ground in front of her eyes.

"Sooner or later, you will join my army." Vela said sinisterly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the K-5, Norbit, and Casey raced back into the fortress, they ran into the dojo and found Sage lying weakly on the floor. They ran to the white mage and helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay, Sage?" Casey asked with concern.

"Mother, are you alright?" Kirana asked.

"No, Kirana." Sage said. "Your former adversary, Dr. Vela North, has returned."

"Vela's behind this?" Ariana said. "But how's that even possible?"

"Somehow, she has acquired a telepathic connection with every Kurages in her control after a freak accident in her lab." Sage explained. "And she now calls herself, the Kurage Queen."

"Now this is personal. No one messes with our mother's mind." Ellie said angrily.

"You're right, Talia. We gotta take her down!" Ezra agreed.

"Agreed, Ezra. The Kurage Queen will not rest until she has complete control of this city and my mind." Sage said. She slowly walked towards her memory shrine and took down her old family photo. "Everything I had in my life is gone. My husband, my son, and even my home clan. You five are all I have left in my life."

"Don't worry, mother." Camilla assured. "We'll stop her."

"But we need find her first." Ariana pointed out.

"Thanks to the Kurage Queen, I was able to see into her mind." Sage said. "She's in her lair in an abandoned utility building across TCRI."

Suddenly, Sage screamed out loud as she dropped the picture and holding her head with her hands. Ezra and Casey helped her back to her feet before Sage started collapsing to the floor again.

"Fight her, mother. Stay strong." Ezra said firmly.

"I will." Sage replied. "Just go."

"Don't worry." Casey said. "Casey Jones will look after Sage."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia nodded as they exited the dojo. Ezra bent down to pick up the picture and stared at it for a minute before joining his older sisters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 arrived at the abandoned utility building and entered quietly into the main room. They walked through the dark hallways, but they stopped when they heard a strange sound in the air.

"Do you guys hear that?" Ariana said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked down the hallway and saw a swarm of Kurages zooming through the halls.

"You gotta be kidding me." Camilla muttered.

"How did they find us so fast?!" Ezra said.

"Any ideas, Kirana?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah, run!" Kirana shouted.

The K-5 began running down the hallway as fast as they can with the Kurages chasing them. Ariana launched herself into the air and summoned a giant rocky hand from the ceiling that grabbed her and her four siblings, leaving the Kurages flying down below them without notice.

"Brilliant, Ariana!" Kirana said. "Keep moving!"

With a nod, Ariana motioned the giant rock hand to move forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the Kurage Queen was resuming her efforts to take control of Sage's mind.

"Why do you even care about this new life of yours so much?" The Kurage Queen questioned.

"Because that's...where I...belong." Sage groaned as she could feel her strength getting weaker by the second.

"Oh really? Your children have begun to outgrow you to their full potential." The Kurage Queen taunted.

The Kurage Queen conjured the sight of the sparring session earlier where Kirana punched Sage straight to the face.

"They even mentioned that they don't need you anymore. Even though your son mentioned that he'll need you, he'll grow up." The Kurage Queen continued. "But I do. Come to me and join your real family."

"Nooooo!" Sage cried.

The Kurage Queen finally have control over Sage.

Casey heard Sage's scream from the kitchen and entered back in the dojo with a hockey stick in his hands, but he stopped when a thick mist started to form around the area. He didn't like it not one bit.

"Sage?" Casey called out. "Is everything okay?"

Casey stepped through the mist and turned around to walk backwards before bumping into something. He gasped sharply as he whipped around and stared wide-eyed when he noticed the white mage held her white energized fists in the air and her eyes were glowing dark pink. Sage immediately charged at Casey with several white energy bolts. Casey was able to dodge each one with his skates and ran for cover, but one energy bolt made him fall to the floor and moved to the corner when Sage was walking closer above him. Norbit walked in and saw the attacking. Before Sage was about to harm Casey severely, she stopped as the Kurage Queen's voice was calling to her mind.

"Forget the boy and the robot, Sage. Come to me now." The Kurage Queen ordered.

Obeying her command, Sage moved away from Casey and exited the fortress. Norbit walked over to Casey and helped him up.

"Casey, are you alright?" Norbit asked.

"Okay, now that was freaky." Casey muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana continued to motion the giant rock hand to move with her earth magic.

"Okay, I know the Kurages are part of our mage race and all, but I'm officially freaking out by all of this." Talia said as she was staring down at the roaming Kurages.

Finally, the giant rock hand stopped to the end of the wall where the mages can see a wall of Kurages blocking their path in front of them.

"Ariana, check out that wall." Kirana said.

Ariana touched the ceiling wall with her right palm and picked up several figures behind the end wall through the vibrations.

"The Kurage Queen is in there." Ariana stated. "Her utility chamber is on the other side of that wall."

"But how are we supposed to get past them?" Talia asked, pointing her finger to the Kurages.

"Ezra, can you make an energy ball?" Kirana said to her teal mage ninja brother.

"You got it." Ezra said with a nod.

Ezra uses his left hand to make a mist of teal magic at the Kurages and used his right hand to make a teal energy ball to throw at the teal mist. The teal mist and the energy ball clashed together to form a powerful steam at the Kurages, causing the psychic mystic creatures to scatter away from the wall.

"Works like a charm." Ezra smirked.

"Nice, Ezra. Let's go!" Kirana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the K-5 destroyed the end wall, they entered inside the enormous room that led them to the main room area that has several Kurages scattering around. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra found themselves confronted by Vela North, who was standing on a platform high above them with her fellow Kurages.

"Ah, mage ninjas, we meet again." Vela said.

"Except last time, North, you didn't bleached your skin into a flamingo color!" Camilla retorted.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra giggled at their sister's joke.

"I am the Kurage Queen!" Vela shouted in frustration. "The Kurage Queen!"

"Sad." Talia coughed into her fist.

"Sorry, but we don't actually about your discovery." Kirana retorted. "We've got a few tricks to bone with you!"

Suddenly, the K-5 flinched at the sound of rock music.

"Right at the moment, Ariana?" Ezra remarked.

Ariana turned away from her siblings and quickly took out her K-Phone to answer the call.

"Uh, Casey, this really isn't the best time to call me right now." Ariana answered.

"Ariana, it's Sage! She's gone!" Casey shouted through the phone.

"Gone? Gone where?" Ariana asked.

"Right here." A low, raspy voice answered.

Slowly, the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja turned and gasped surprisingly. They saw Sage stepping into the room with glowing dark pink eyes. Sage is now under the Kurage Queen's control, much to the mages' horror.

"Mother!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra gasped collectively.

"She's mine now." The Kurage Queen said with a chuckle.

"Mother, please snap out of it!" Ezra shouted. "She's controlling your mind. You have to fight it."

Sage stared at her children as she ignored Ezra's pleading words.

"Sage, destroy them!" The Kurage Queen ordered.

"With pleasure." Sage said with a monotone voice.

Sage took a few steps forward towards the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja.

"Are we really gonna do this?" Ezra asked uncomfortably.

"We beat her once, we can do it again." Kirana replied. "Remember, do not hesitate."

Sage clenched her fists and summoned white energy engulfing them.

"Let's. Take. Mother. Down." Kirana said.

The K-5 summoned their elemental magic and charged forward together. Kirana ran forward to attack her mother. Ariana ran forward after her, then Ezra went after her, Camilla went after him, and then Talia went after her. They attacked together, but their elemental fists ended up on the ground at the same place. They all felt the presence of Sage right behind them, making the mages turn to see her with fear. Sage sent her children flying by delivering five quick white energized kicks.

The K-5 were thrown against the wall. Talia, Camilla, Ezra, and Kirana hit the wall on their backs and slumped on the floor while Ariana hit the wall on her face and fell on her back to the floor.

"Now I'm starting to see everything clearly." Ariana said to her siblings as she looked back at Sage. "She has been going easy on us for all these years!"

Ariana suddenly ran forward and went to attack Sage with a swift kick, but Sage dodged out of the way. Ariana then summoned up the ground beneath her and ruptured it to send out a wave of violent earth rushing towards her mother, but Sage jumped in the air and kicked the purple mage kunoichi back to the wall. Talia swiftly created several arrows made of air and fired them at Sage, but the white mage protected herself with a white energy force field and then fired a powerful white energy blast that sent the orange mage kunoichi to the wall on the other side of the room before falling to the floor. Camilla ran forward and channeled her flaming powers around herself to fire out the flames forward in the shape of a giant dragon at Sage, but Sage moved out of the way and flipped over Camilla to kick her in the face with a foot that sent the red mage kunoichi to the ground at Kirana's feet.

Kirana stood silent for a moment and stared at Sage with her sad, begging eyes. Ezra got up and stared at the fight that's about to happen.

"Mother, please!" Kirana pleaded.

Sage didn't respond and ran forward as Kirana did the same. They fought using their fast kicks and punches, dodging and blocking each other's attacks with speed and agility. But Sage eventually knocked Kirana to the ground, putting her foot on the blue mage kunoichi's chest and raised her fist in the air. Ezra quickly shot lightning at Sage's hand to back her away from Kirana. The teal mage ninja quickly ran over to protect his older sister.

"Finish him." Vela commanded.

"Wait!" Ezra said, stopping her mother from finishing Kirana up. "Remember who you are! Shiroibara Sage."

Ezra conjured up the family picture and Sage stared down at with narrow eyes as if the photo was snapping her out of it.

"Please, mother. We need you." Kirana said softly as she got up and stood behind Ezra.

"Don't listen to her." The Kurage Queen said as she levitated herself down and stood over Sage with a cruel grin. "Your place is with me."

"My place...is with...my children!" Sage cried out.

Suddenly, Sage's dark pink eyes went back to normal and she charged forward at the Kurage Queen. Sage delivered a powerful punch that was strong enough to create a small explosion for the Kurage Queen to get hit hard at the wall and fell on the ground floor unconsciously. That even made the mages blinking in surprise.

"Mother!" The K-5 exclaimed happily as they hugged their mother tightly.

The K-5 and Sage watched as a wave of Kurages flew over the unconscious Kurage Queen and took their leave out of their sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Sage was meditating peacefully and levitated herself up when Kirana entered the dojo to check on her.

"Mother, are you positive that you are alright?" Kirana asked cautiously.

"Yes, Kirana, I'm okay." Sage replied with a smile. "Thanks to you and your siblings."

"Well, you did hesitate." Kirana grinned. "And like you said, hesitation makes you vulnerable."

"Yup!" Talia said, peering around a corner of the dojo entrance.

Camilla appeared beside Talia and crossed her arms while Ariana appeared behind them with a greeting two fingered salute. Ezra walked beside Camilla and smiled.

"Yes, I'm proud of all of you." Sage smiled.

"But who knows." Kirana said with a cocky grin. "Maybe we'll be even better master mage kunoichis than you in the future."

Sage's eyes narrowed as she grabbed Kirana's wrist and threw her over her shoulder into the wall. Kirana slid down and landed on her back with dizzy eyes.

"It's gonna take every skill I've taught you to keep up with a master mage like me." Sage said as she walked towards her room.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra giggled as they knelt next to their oldest sister.

"Great to have you back, mother." Kirana groaned.

Sage glanced over her shoulder and giggled.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Outside the city, the K-5 were chasing Omalgae on the rooftops. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra jumped off the rooftops and landed in front of Omalgae, who came to a halt and turned around to run away. But Kirana and Camilla landed been right behind the plant mutant. Having enough of this, Omalgae began firing large glowing green seeds from his palms at the K-5 at a high velocity.

"Oh snap!" Talia screamed.

Talia created a solid barrier of air that surrounded herself, Ezra, and Ariana as Camilla created a barrier of fire that surrounded herself and Kirana Both barriers were strong enough to protect the mages from incoming rapid green seeds.

Omalgae stopped attacking the mages and sped away over Talia's barrier to pick up speed across the rooftops.

"Guys, Omalgae's getting away!" Ariana exclaimed.

Talia and Camilla released their elemental barriers as the K-5 immediately went after the plant mutant. Omalgae jumped down into an alley and Kirana stopped running to signal her younger siblings for a complete stop by holding up her hand as the siblings stood by edge of the building.

"We've got him trapped, team." Kirana said confidently.

"Great. Let's get him." Camilla said.

Kirana drew her elemental magic and her siblings did the same with their magic. With a nod coming from Kirana, the team looked down into the alley and found Omalgae was gone out of their sight.

"How is he already gone?" Ezra asked.

"What the heck?" Kirana gasped in shock. "Where did he go?"

"Thanks, Kirana." Camilla said. "We lost him."

"Now, how could possibly be my fault?" Kirana questioned defensively.

"Because we would've been caught Omalgae by now if you have come up with a better plan." Camilla snapped.

"Well, you need to stop second guessing my orders!" Kirana retorted.

"Then, quit making bad orders and I would listen to you for a change!" Camilla shouted. "Besides, I'll show you how I can be the better leader than you!"

"Oh, that sounds like a challenge!" Kirana yelled with a glare.

"Now, let's not make any poor judgements here." Ariana said slowly as she got between her two older sisters and pushed them away.

"Ariana's right. You two can't argue all of this back home." Talia added.

Kirana and Camilla glared at Ariana and Talia furiously, making their younger sisters step away from them.

"Guys, please don't fight over this dare. It's gonna end up in a terrible disaster." Ezra said.

Kirana knew her younger brother was right but Camilla didn't even listen, making Kirana glare at Camilla.

"If you think you can lead the team better than me, that's fine by me." Kirana said firmly.

"Wait, what?" Ariana, Talia, and Ezra screamed.

"But if you fail, don't come running to me because I won't care." Kirana continued. "Have. Fun!"

Kirana began walked away angrily from her sisters. Camilla crossed her arms with a glare as Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked cautious to watch their oldest sister go.

"We're doomed without Kirana, aren't we?" Talia asked with a deadpan look.

"Yeah, pretty much." Ariana sighed with a nod.

"I told them but no one listens to the eleven year old." Ezra groaned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kirana sat angrily on the edge of the building rooftops that has a billboard standing behind her.

"I worked my butt off to become the leader that mother chosen me to be." Kirana thought furiously. "Who does that hothead brat Camilla think she is? She doesn't have a single clue how hard it is to handle the responsibility as a leader. Once she fails her job of being leader, she'll come running and admitting me that I'm right. Just wait and see."

Suddenly, Kirana sensed many black auras coming from behind her as she got up and summoned her water magic. She turned around and found herself face to face with a squad of Shadow Clan ninjas.

"The Shadow Clan? Well, this night is going to be delightful." Kirana said with a grin.

All of the Shadow Clan soldiers lunged forward to attack at Kirana with everything they got, but the blue mage knuoichi have beaten them easily.

"Thanks for making up my bad night." Kirana smirked.

Then, Kirana sensed another black aura out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a shadowy ninja crouching on top of the billboard. The ninja was actually gazing down at Kirana as if he was studying her moves. Then, the figure jumped down and landed on his feet to face Kirana. The black aura that Kirana have detected was a Shadow Clan mage ninja. He was tall and lean almost equal to Ariana's height with a muscular physique and brushed-back black hair. He wore a black v-neck training shirt with several gray linings in its place, black hakama pants, and black ankle wraps with gray linings. He also has a black metallic mask with neon gray linings at the center that covered his eyes. To Kirana's eyes, he looked strong and dangerous.

"Hey, you're not bad." The ninja boy spoke in a smooth voice. "You might be quite a challenge for me."

Kirana's eyes widened wide in surprise as she can't believe that the Shadow Clan ninja was really complimenting her fighting skills.

"Um, thanks?" Kirana said with a raised eyebrow.

"Now here comes the fun part." The ninja boy said with a chuckle.

The mage ninja boy approached Kirana slowly and summoned out his dark energy magic from his hands. He extended their arm forward and released a multitude of hands composed of dark energy to grab the blue mage knuoichi. Kirana quickly created a barrier of water that surrounded herself to deflect the Shadow Clan ninja's attack. The mage ninja then charged a large sphere of dark energy between his hands and fired it at Kirana in form of a powerful beam. Kirana took the hit from the attack, leaving her struggling to stand up and fight back. The mage ninja took that advantage and lunged forward to release several tentacles made of dark energy that wrapped around the blue mage kunoichi, restraining Kirana's movement by her arms and legs in the process. The mage ninja came close into Kirana's face.

For some reason, Kirana found herself somewhat attracted to him rather than feeling the sense of fear in her mind.

"Heh, maybe not." The mage ninja said with a shrug. He took off his mask and revealed his jade green eyes with a smile to Kirana. "Forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kuro. But don't think we're finished here. We have all night. See ya."

Kuro summoned a portal made of dark energy and descended into it out of sight as he snapped his fingers to free the blue mage kunoichi from the dark energized tentacles. Kirana ran up to the disappearing portal and looked down at the spot with a complete confusion.

"Who was that boy?" Kirana asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra watched as Ariana was using her magic to pinpoint the various places Omalgae had been sighted on a map of New York City.

"Ariana, will you hurry up already?" Camilla asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"I'm working as fast as I can here." Ariana replied irritatedly.

"Then try working faster!" Camilla snapped.

"Obviously, I can't even concentrate with you yelling in my ear!" Ariana retorted with an annoyed look.

"How about I hit you and see what happens?" Camilla said as she cracked her knuckles hard.

"Fine, I'll work faster." Ariana sighed with a groan as she quickly went back to the map with her magic.

"Thank you!" Camilla smiled.

Ariana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra immediately looked to see the lab doors opening slightly as Kirana stepped inside while struggling to walk on her feet.

"Kirana!" Ezra said in worry. "Are you ok?"

Ezra went over to help his older sister.

"Yes, Kirana's back!" Talia exclaimed enthusiastically. She quickly helped her oldest sister from falling. "And she's hurt really bad! What happened?"

"I got attacked by the Shadow Ninjas." Kirana replied. She knew that she can't tell her younger sisters about her meeting with Kuro, so she decided to keep that a secret from them. "They have been putting quite a fight for once."

"Don't worry. You sit down and I'll heal you back in no time." Talia said.

Ezra grabbed a chair for Kirana and she sat on it.

"There you go, sis." Ezra said.

"And where have you been?" Camilla demanded as she stood in front of Kirana.

"Don't see why you care about my business." Kirana retorted.

"Fine, don't tell me." Camilla scowled. "I'm really glad that the Shadow Clan gave you a beatdown anyway."

"Look, enough with this pointless arguing." Talia said as she stepped between her older sisters and placed her hands on each of their shoulders. "We have something more important than this stupid fight."

"Whatever." Camilla snarled as she walked away from her sisters.

Talia rolled her eyes and pressed her glowing orange hands on Kirana's chest as she began healing her oldest sister back to perfect health.

"Found it! I've found Omalgae's hideout!" Ariana exclaimed as she stood up and pointed out the bright purple circle on the map. "Right here."

"Good." Camilla said. "We'll leave immediately since I'm in charge now."

Kirana glared at Camilla as she got up from the chair to stomp out of the lab and slammed the door on the way out. Camilla smirked slightly, leaving Ariana and Talia feeling extremely anxious about their mission. Ezra glared at Camilla but she ignored him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kirana sat on the couch and watched the new episode of Battlestar Matrix. She viewed the scene where Captain Mila was fighting against her enemy's second-in-command named Kyros in hand-to-hand combat. Kyros was enjoying sparring with Mila as his worthy opponent while Mila was feeling both confused and attracted to him during the fight. In the end, Kyros won the fight and delivered a small kiss on Mila's cheek, making the captain blush on both cheeks for the unexpected event.

"Wow, who knows relationships can be complicated." Kirana said.

That's when Sage walked in the living room.

"Kirana, have you seen your siblings?" Sage asked.

"They just left." Kirana replied with a careless wave. "Camilla believes that she can lead the team better than me. So, I let her take my place as the leader."

"But that's not your decision to make, Kirana." Sage said.

"Mother, they always questioned my leadership and I'm sick and tired of it." Kirana protested. "They have no idea how much responsibility I have to carry for team."

"I understand, Kirana." Sage said calmly. "But you need to realize that leadership is all about responsibility.

Kirana looked down to the ground and knew that Sage was right as usual.

"Now go find your siblings." Sage ordered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the city, Kirana stood on the rooftop and sat on the ground in a mediative position. She took a deep breath and focused on her powers to perceive auras that surrounded every living things within the city. She was able to sense emotions and health coming from humans and hidden mages alike. But what she didn't know is that someone was walking quietly near her from behind.

In quick seconds, Kirana sensed the person's aura and noticed that he's close behind her.

Kirana quickly summoned two water tentacles from her back and wrapped around the person's waist and arms together, making her stand up from the ground and turn around to walk closer at the stalker with a glare. Her eyes widened wide in complete surprise when the person was actually a mutant turtle. The mutant turtle himself has emerald green skin, blue mask with long tails, and a pair of katana swords on his back. He also has the same height and eye color as the blue mage kunoichi. Kirana and the mutant turtle made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Fearless sapphire blue eyes—the exact same color that the ocean had carried. Their eyes were sparkled with calmness, loyalty, and curiosity behind their masks. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their family, their home, their sense of honor, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the mutant ninja turtle and the mage kunoichi that held them here now.

"A mutant?" Kirana gasped sharply.

"Wait, I'm not your enemy." The mutant turtle said. "I thought you were one of the Foot Clan ninjas."

"I'm not. I've heard of that clan before, but I'm not part of them." Kirana said firmly. "I'm actually from the Magnolia Clan, but I thought you were a Shadow Clan ninja sent to spy on me."

"Trust me, I'm not either." The mutant turtle replied. "But give me a chance to apologize."

"Apologize? For what?" Kirana asked as she cocked her head in confusion.

Suddenly, the mutant turtle used his foot to take out his katana sword and slashed the water tentacles that freed him from Kirana's grasp. Kirana backed away few inches from the mutant turtle as the mutant turtle took out another katana sword from his back and got into his offensive stance.

"That." The mutant turtle replied with a playful smirk.

Kirana slowly opened up her hand to create a katana sword out of water and got into her offensive stance.

"Are you always this mysteriously handsome or am I just quite lucky to fight a worthy ninja?" Kirana said with a sly smirk.

Kirana swung her katana sword at the mutant turtle, who blocked it with his katana sword. As the two delievered strong slashes and defensive blocks to each other, the mutant and the mage are really enjoying their sparring as they found themselves extremely skilled martial artists due to their enhanced speed and stamina. They both are fighting in a more traditional Japanese martial art style with their own katana swords.

"Your hand-to-hand combat is very balanced compared to mine." The mutant turtle complimented. "And you're using the Niten Ichi-ryū as your sword fighting style just like me. Your fighting style is almost similar like mine."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you." Kirana remarked.

Kirana swiped her katana sword and sent out several scythe-like blades of water at the mutant turtle, who was able to block the attack from his katana sword. But as Kirana expected it, she transformed her katana sword into a whip made of water to strike the mutant turtle's chest multuple times that sent him flying to the ground close to the edge of the rooftop.

"Okay, I did not see that coming." The mutant turtle said with a groan.

"Well, you haven't realized it yet. I'm a mage." Kirana said. "A race of naturally magic-wielding humans. In battle, I can channel my magical energies to my enemies."

"Yeah, I've noticed." The mutant turtle said. He stood up from the ground and placed his katana swords to the back of his shell. "I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo."

"An introduction?" Kirana questioned confusingly. "So you're not taking me in?"

"Well, you did put up quite a fight." Leo said with a shrug. "But since you're not part of the Foot Clan, I trust you. So I won't be taking you in."

"Guess I underestimated you." Kirana said as she vaporized her water whip out of thin air. "You really aren't like the other ninjas I've fought, especially one from the Shadow Clan."

"Thanks." Leo said with a nod.

"Well, if you didn't come to take me in, then what do you want?" Kirana asked suspiciously.

"Your name." Leo grinned.

"Kirana." Kirana chuckled.

"Beautiful. Almost better than my name anyway." Leo joked with a smile.

As Leo and Kirana stepped closer and gazed into each other's eyes, they both realized that they have something else to do.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to find my siblings." Kirana said.

"And I have to find my siblings as well." Leo said. "My hothead brother is the leader because he thinks he can lead the team better than me."

"You too, huh? Tell me about it." Kirana agreed. "I have a hothead sister back home who thinks she can be a better leader than me, so I know exactly how you feel."

"But hey, do you want spar again sometime?" Leo asked.

"I would love to." Kirana replied with a smile. "But only if you can find me in the city next time."

With that, Leo and Kirana went separate ways to find their siblings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kirana raced across the rooftops, she felt a black aura hiding in the shadows and stopped on the rooftop that has the cosmetic store billboard behind her. She stood her position with her eyes closed shut to focus more about the aura she'd sensed within the shadows. She opened her eyes and quickly dodged many shuriken with a backflip before landing back on her feet. She looked up at the shadows and watched a teenage girl stepping out right in front of her with a greeting smile.

Kirana gasped happily as she recognized the girl from before. The teenaged girl was slightly taller than Kirana and approximately close to Ariana's height with a lean, slender figure. She has short black hair with a large portion of dyed blonde at the back in a style of angled bob with long eartails. She has amber eyes, several black earrings, and bright red eyeliner over the tips of her eyebrows. She wore a full-body black bodysuit worn under a silver armor attached to her chest, part on her thighs, and around her shoulders, arms, and legs. She also wore traditional Japanese shoes and a purple belt around the waist.

"Well, well, well, you've grown quite strong than the last time we sparred back in Japan." The teenaged girl complimented.

"Karai!" Kirana squealed with a huge smile.

Kirana ran forward and hugged Karai, who returned the hug with a smile.

"It's so good to see you, Kirana." Karai said.

"I never thought you would come in this city yourself." Kirana said with a somewhat surprised face. "I would have known you were coming sooner."

"Good times travels fast." Karai said with a shrug. She drew out her tanto sword and got into her offensive stance. "Now, let's put our training to the test for old time sake."

"Alright then." Kirana grinned as she opened up her hand to create a tanto sword out of water and got into her offensive stance. "And trust me, I have been picking up some new skills."

Kirana launched herself at the human kunoichi first with a swipe of her tanto sword, but Karai had already blocked the attack with her tanto sword. Karai was about to strike the blue mage kunoichi with her tanto sword, but Kirana quickly countered gracefully with her tanto sword. Kirana and Karai exchanged slashes with their own tanto swords. After few minutes of giving each other's attacks at full power, Kirana and Karai took a step back.

"Impressive." Karai complimented. "You really have pick up some new tricks."

"Told you I've been training." Kirana said with a smirk. "Your acrobatic skills have been improving as well."

"Love to stay and chat, but I have to meet up with someone." Karai said.

"Oh, so do I." Kirana said. "I have to find my siblings. The whole reason is kinda of a long story."

"Give them a shout out for me, Kirana." Karai smiled.

"I will." Kirana smiled back.

With that, Kirana and Karai went separate ways to their objectives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After her meeting with Leo and her encounter with Karai, Kirana stood by herself in the alleyway and used her aura sense to track down her younger siblings. She still can't believe her mother sent her on the search to find them. Well, she's willing to track down Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. But not Camilla, that's for sure.

"Now, what street did Ariana said back in the lab?" Kirana muttered.

Kirana stopped talking for a minute and immediately dodged the dark energy blast with a water shield she conjured up when she turned around to block the attack. She released her water shield and found Kuro walking out the portal made of dark energy as it disappeared right behind him.

"Was I too quick for you?" Kuro smirked causally.

"Your timing needs some work if you're gonna spy on me." Kirana replied with a playful smirk.

"There's no need for me to spy on you. I'm just in the mood for some fun." Kuro responded.

Kuro summoned dark energy with his hands and got into his offensive stance. Kirana shrugged her shoulders as she summoned water with her hands and got into her offensive stance.

"Let's just get this fight started." Kirana smiled.

"Time to turn up the heat." Kuro smiled back.

Kuro lunged forward and fired a drilling beam of dark energy at Kirana, who dodged out of the way and formed a circular torrent of water in front of her hands to attack the dark mage ninja. With their eyes focused on each other's incoming moves, Kirana noticed that Kuro's mage ninjutsu skills were very formidable that makes him able to take his opponents one-on-one easily while Kuro noticed that Kirana's mage ninjutsu skills were more traditional style that fuels through her bravery and determination. Then, both mages stopped fighting for deep breaths.

"I guess all of our training paid off, huh?" Kirana grinned.

"Ha, you sure know how to show a boy a good time in this city." Kuro complimented with a smirk. "But then again, I'm starting to see why the Shadow Clan haven't finished the job on taking you down."

"Like Lady Shade couldn't fight me at her full strength." Kirana remarked.

"I know, right?" Kuro agreed with a grin. "The words revenge and vendetta has really giving her a crazy obsession. Trust me, that woman really needs a new source."

For some strange reason, Kirana was actually enjoying talking to Kuro just like the way she likes to chat with Leo and Karai.

"To be honest, you're not as bad as you think you are." Kirana said as she cocked one of her hips sassily. "I mean, why didn't you finish me off back on the rooftop earlier?"

"Because I always get myself distracted with many weaklings in my life and I enjoy taking on mage fighters like you." Kuro answered. He moved himself closer to Kirana, causing her to back away to the wall. "You actually put up a fight, but I don't think you're as good as you think you are. You eyes are filled with freedom and I admire that."

Kuro moved away from Kirana and pointed his finger at the skyscraper building.

"Meet me there at midnight." Kuro said with a sly grin.

"Why?" Kirana asked confusingly.

"I want you to show something interesting." Kuro said.

With that, Kuro sank down to his shadow and disappeared out of sight.

Kirana have never felt so confused in her entire life. She viewed Kuro as a Shadow Clan member, but he's more cunning and dangerous than any average ninjas from that clan. She could feel her heart speeding up, but it only reacts faster when she first met Leo. She realized that she has romantic feelings for both Leo and Kuro, but she can't decide who she attracts more. She knew she can't tell her mother and her siblings about them, so she knows just the right person she can talk to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the three other mage kunoichis and mage ninja walked through the underground tunnel coming from below the old warehouse.

"We have been walking for hours!" Talia groaned. "Are we there yet or not?"

"Keep it down, Talia!" Camilla hissed. "We can't let Omalgae know we're down here."

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra exchanged glances at each other before turning back to Camilla.

"Wow, she sounds just like Kirana." Ariana whispered.

"Yeah, I miss her already." Talia whispered back.

"I just hope she knows where we are in case we need her." Ezra whispered.

"You know, I can hear you three!" Camilla said as she spun around with a glare. "You say that name one more time and I'll shove your faces down into the ground!"

Camilla continued to move forward, leaving her younger sister talk among themselves.

"And now she sound like herself again." Ariana said to Talia and Ezra.

"Bummer." Talia muttered.

"Typical." Ezra muttered.

The mages finally found Omalgae's secret hideout. Camilla, Talia, and Ezra's eyes widened wide, but Ariana was still looking down to her map.

"Oh boy." Ezra said.

"Okay, according to the map, Omalgae's lair should be right here." Ariana said.

"Uh, Ariana?" Camilla said slowly. "We found it."

Talia poked her finger on Ariana's shoulder and pointed it upward. Ariana followed the finger and then looked up with wide eyes.

The mages walked forward and observed the place with their jaw dropped. The entire place was modeled like a large glowing indoor garden complete with trees and grass. The ground was clouded with dark green mist and several enormous Venus flytraps planted on the grassy ground. As they walked around the Venus flytraps, Talia and Ezra looked into one of them curiously and peered through the mouth to see a male human trapped inside.

"This is where the humans have been all this time." Ezra said in realization.

"Okay, this is wrong on so many levels!" Talia exclaimed with a yelp.

"Calm down, Talia." Ariana said as she and Camilla joined their youngest sister and younger brother. "He's actually holding them captive."

"For what?" Camilla asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Ariana placed her hand on the Venus flytrap and focused on the plant with her earth magic.

"According to my magic, he's planning on devouring them." Ariana said.

"Okay, now that's gross." Talia muttered.

"How are we gonna free them?" Ezra asked.

"Ariana, use your magic to let the plants free the humans." Camilla said. "Talia and I will lead them out with a little hypnosis."

Ariana motioned her glowing purple hands and commanded the Venus flytraps at her will. With a snap of her fingers, the Venus flytraps lowered themselves and opened up their mouths to release the humans to the grass. Camilla, Talia, and Ezra hid behind one of the giant Venus flytraps as they waved their red, orange, and teal glowing fingers around in the air to take control of the humans, sending them straight to the exit at one peace.

"This mission was a job well done without Kirana." Camilla grinned.

"Camilla." Ezra warned.

Then, the hissing sound of the plant mutant made the mages turn around to face him.

"No!" Omaglae screamed angrily. "You four have ruined my meal!"

"Oh snap." Ariana muttered.

"What do we do now, Camilla?" Talia whispered to Camilla.

"Simple. Take him down!" Camilla replied.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra charged forward to attack Omaglae.

Ariana ran for Omaglae and summoned five long earth spikes to pierce Omaglae from all sides. Omaglae dodged each earth spike in his way and formed a green ball of energy between his hand to fire it at the purple mage kunoichi that exploded on impact. Talia created several blades of wind to attack Omaglae, who blocked the attack with his growing arms and released a cyclone of glowing green leaves towards the orange mage kunoichi. Ezra made several lightning bolts and threw them at Omaglae, but he dodged them and released a glowing green vine at the teal mage ninja. Camilla fired a number of fiery curved beams of fire towards the plant mutant, but Omaglae avoided each beam in his direction and fired multiple glowing green seeds that exploded the red mage kunoichi on impact.

Omaglae then unleashed three vines to wrap around the mages and threw them viciously into the wall near the exit. Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra were struggling to get back up on their feet, but they noticed that Talia was still down.

"Talia's down and out!" Camilla gasped with wide, panic eyes.

"Oh wonderful." Ariana said sarcastically. Her eyes focused on Talia. "Look, Camilla. We can't take our chances here against Omaglae with Talia unconscious. We gotta move right now."

Camilla nodded her head and picked up Talia in her arms as Ariana summoned a large purple flower from the ground behind the mages. The giant flower then sucked the mages into the hole at the center and sank itself down to the ground as an escape route.

"I will find you, mages!" Omaglae yelled angrily. "Count on it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After racing across several rooftops to her desination, Kirana finally made it to Casey's apartment home. She landed on the fire escape and walked up to Casey's window to see the lights are on.

"Casey." Kirana called quietly. "Are you there?"

Casey walked to the window and opened it with a confused face.

"Kirana." Casey said. "What is it?"

"I need to talk about something." Kirana said with a nervous smile.

"And what would that be?" Casey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I met two boys today." Kirana replied with a nervous smile.

"Really?" Casey smiled excitedly. "Tell me!"

"Okay, there's this guy who's super charming, a skilled martial artist, and he's uh...a mutant." Kirana explained quickly. "And there's this guy who's a cool rebel, a slick martial artist, and he's uh...in the Shadow Clan."

"Are you insane?" Casey shouted in a whisper. "You have a crush on a Shadow Clan bad boy and a mutant?"

"I know, but I feel lost and confused every time I think about them." Kirana argued. "I'm tired of being the responsible one and want to have some fun, but I still want to be disciplined and honorable to his clan."

"As much as I wanted to pound that mutant down, I'm more interested about the Shadow Clan bad boy." Casey said. "So what does he want from you?"

"He wants me to meet him at the Seagram Building." Kirana replied. "I know you're suspecting a trap from him, but I sensed some good aura on him. I can feel it within me."

"Well, I hope you're right." Casey said with a shrug. "But it's your choice, Kirana."

As Casey closed his windows, Kirana looked up to the sky with her mind racing to make up a choice. Both Kuro and Leo are handsome, mysterious, and excellent fighters. But Kuro makes her feel like she can have a little fun than Leo.

With a deep sigh, Kirana had made her decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Shadow Clan HQ, Kuro walked through the doors to see Lady Shade in her throne chair and approached her with a kneeling bow down to the floor.

"Kuro, I have noticed that you didn't have the opportunity to finish off Kirana." Lady Shade informed.

"Oh, you don't say?" Kuro questioned calmly. "I didn't even need to use my full power for the likes of her."

"So you let her go instead." Lady Shade responded.

"No way. That's not true." Kuro stated plainly. "She escaped from my moment to strike."

"I find that hard to believe coming from you." Lady Shade said.

"Well, she did escaped from you." Kuro snapped.

"Enough!" Lady Shade shouted.

Lady Shade got up from the throne chair and approached down to Kuro from the stairs as Kuro stared up to Lady Shade without a hint of fear in his body.

"Next time you see Kirana, you will take your time and finish her real painfully. Understand?" Lady Shade demanded.

"I understand, mother." Kuro said respectfully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Camilla and Ariana carried Talia into the living room with Ezra following as Sage came out from the dojo just in time to see her unconscious daughter.

"Set her on the couch now." Sage said quickly.

Camilla and Ariana gently placed Talia to the couch. Sage sat down next to the unconscious mage.

"Where is Kirana?" Sage asked, looking up at Camilla and Ariana.

"We don't know, mother!" Camilla said miserably. "This is all my fault. I should have never took Kirana's place as the leader. I wanna risk my own life for things like this, not my siblings."

"Is Talia gonna be ok?" Ezra asked his mother.

"She'll be fine." Sage told him. "She needs rest."

Sage looked at Camilla.

"Now, you finally understand Kirana's responsibility to this team." Sage said firmly.

"Trust me, I know." Camilla said. "She was right. We need her back, but mostly I need her back."

"Then, go find her." Sage said simply.

"But we have no idea where she is." Camilla told Sage.

"She's heading at Seagram Building." Ariana spoke up.

"How can you possibly know that?" Camilla questioned.

"Casey texted me and told me so." Ariana replied as she held up her K-Phone. "I'll stay with Talia. You go find Kirana. We don't know what she could be doing on that building."

"I'll tag with her." Ezra said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the rooftop of the Seagram Building, Kuro sat on the ground and waited for Kirana to meet with him. His smile grew wide when Kirana climbed to the top and landed on her feet on the ground as she walked closer to him.

"It's about time you show up." Kuro said with a grin.

"So, why do you want me to meet you here?" Kirana asked.

"To show this." Kuro said.

Kuro waved his hand around in a circle and pointed his magic in the air, summoning a shiny light green amulet hovering bewteen the two mages.

"That's the Amulet of Nightshade." Kirana said in awe. "It's the source of all dark magic."

"It's ancient, beautiful, and yours...if you join me." Kuro said as he looked at Kirana right in the eyes.

"Join you for what?" Kirana asked hesitantly.

"We're going to absorb its tremendous power." Kuro replied.

"No, I'm not." Kirana said sternly. "Absorbing that kinda power will leave a very chaotic outcome even for advanced mages."

"Oh come on. You know, you want it." Kuro said with a chuckle. "Stop being responsible, Kirana. Stop waiting for people to give you the life you want. Go and bond with it."

"Sorry, Kuro, but no." Kirana responded.

"Refuse my offer? What a shame." Kuro said.

Kuro's hands began engulfing with dark energy, but Kirana grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Kuro, you don't have to do this." Kirana told Kuro.

"I know, but you really need to lighten up." Kuro said with a smile. "You're taking yourself way too seriously."

"Kirana! Are you here?"

"Where are you? Kirana!"

Kirana gasped as she recognized those voices anywhere. Camilla and Ezra climbed at the top of the building and jumped over at the rooftop ground as they saw their oldest sister with a Shadow Clan ninja.

"Um, bad time?" Ezra asked.

"Uh, what are you doing? Who's he?" Camilla demanded.

"Camilla, Ezra, this is Kuro." Kirana said. "Kuro, this is Camilla and Ezra."

"Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and I have been risking our lives against Omaglae and you're up here making friends with the Shadow!" Camilla shouted.

"Hey, you're the leader now." Kirana said quickly. "You didn't want me on the mission, remember?"

"Ha, what an entertaining argument." Kuro said with an amused smile. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

Ezra suddenly sensed something was approaching them.

"Listen, Kuro and I have shared equal fighting style that involves..." Kirana explained.

Ezra picked up the sense of a familiar plant mutant was approaching them.

"Oh, crud." Ezra said.

Kirana immediately stopped talking when she looked behind Camilla to see Omaglae climbing on the rooftop. Camilla noticed her older sister's look and spun around to face the plant mutant. Ezra spun around and saw Omaglae.

"I found you, mages!" Omaglae hissed. "Now, you three will pay for foiling my plans!"

Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra summoned their elemental magic and got into their offensive stances. Omaglae held out his arms and released glowing light green leaves from his palms at the mages, who jumped out of the way and ran forward. Just before Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra could strike, two of Omaglae's vines wrapped around their bodies and pulled them forward as the siblings were being lifted up into the air.

Kuro watched the whole battle from the distance. But when he let out a smirk, he charged forward and fired several spheres of dark energy continuously from his hands that made the plant mutant took the hit and sliced the vines that were holding the mage kunoichis and mage ninja. Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra landed on their feet as they ran back to Kuro.

"I have a plan for a combination attack." Kirana said.

"You're the leader, after all." Camilla said.

"Gladly." Kuro grinned as he cracked his neck side to side. "I love a good fight when I see one."

"Especially when it's together." Ezra commented.

The four mages charged forward to perform a combination attack. Kirana summoned a stream of big bubbles of water from her hands that hit Omaglae multiple times at great force. Kuro charged dark energy on his fingers and summoned thousands of dark energy blasts to strike at Omaglae. Ezra unleashed a stream of lightning from his palms to attack Omaglae. Camilla released a large bullet-like stream of fire towards Omaglae. The plant mutant took all of the mages' attack and went flying close to the edge of the building, but he stood himself in his weak state and wasn't going to be defeated that easily. Kirana formed a sphere of water in her hands above her head, Kuro formed a sphere of dark energy in his hands above his head, Ezra formed a sphere of lightning in his hands above his head, and Camilla formed a sphere of fire in her hands above her head. Once after the sufficient amount of elemental magic has been gathered, the four mages released their magic at the plant mutant in the form of a large elemental beam. Omaglae screamed in horror as the large elemental beam exploded him upon contact and shattered him into pieces.

"Nice plan, sis." Ezra said to Kirana.

"Thanks." Kirana said happily. "Good to be leader again."

"That felt good for my strength." Kuro said with a smirk. "We should do this again sometimes. See ya later."

Kuro sank down to his shadow and disappeared out of sight from the building.

"We'll talk about him later, but right now I wanted to say...I'm sorry." Camilla said as she looked at the ground. "You're right. Being the leader is hard work and I seriously hate it."

"It's okay. Apology accepted." Kirana smiled.

Kirana and Camilla hugged each other and pulled in Ezra for the hug. The mage siblings walked back home together, unaware of the beating sound from Omaglae's heart was still intact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, four mages gathered around Talia. Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra watched closely as Kirana held a slice of cheese pizza close to their youngest sister's nose.

"Mmmmm, cheese pizza." Talia spoke slowly with a sniff.

"Told you." Kirana smiled proudly. "Works every time."

Talia woke up and snatched the slice of pizza with a mouth like a wild animal.

"Oh Talia, we thought we lost you for sure!" Camilla cried as she hugged her youngest sister tightly.

"Glad your okay, Talia." Ezra smiled.

"But did we defeat Omaglae?" Talia said. "I remember being blackout for a second."

"Yeah, we did." Ariana grinned. "Thanks to Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra."

"Works for me." Talia smiled with a shrug.

Camilla pulled Talia back from the hug and pulled Kirana by the arm away from her younger siblings.

"So, who's that boy you were talking to?" Camilla asked.

"His name is Kuro." Kirana replied. "And I know what you're thinking, but he didn't try to attack me."

"Do you realize that he's part of the Shadow Clan, right?" Camilla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know." Kirana said with a smile. "But hey, nobody's perfect."

As Kirana walked past her younger sister and went into her room, Camilla stared at her older sister with a confused look. Kirana let out a low, dreamy sigh as she knows that she will see both Kuro and Leo will be very soon. Between her love for Leo and Kuro, she have made her decision about them.


	15. Chapter Fifthteen

On the city rooftops, Kuro was on patrol with the Shadow soldiers as they were scanning the areas on their search for the K-5.

"Alright, the K-5 have been spotted in this neighborhood, so stay alert at any cost no matter what surprise they throw at us." Kuro ordered.

Kuro suddenly heard shouting coming from the alley not too far from where he's standing. He moved to the next rooftop and looked down from the building to see the K-5 fighting against the alien robots. The Shadow Ninjas were about to make a move, but Kuro held up his hand to halt them from their position.

"Why in the world they are fighting robots?" Kuro questioned.

Kuro then watched Kirana releasing scythe-like blades of water at the Kraang droid, slicing the alien robot cleanly enough for the pnik alien creature to crawl out of the battered robot body.

"Whoa, this city just got a lot more interesting." Kuro said.

Kirana looked up and saw Kuro from above. She gave him a friendly smile and took off to take out the rest of the alien robots with water blades. Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra were completely confused on their oldest sister as they have no clue why she was taking on the Kraang droids on her own. Kirana finished the last Kraang droid with one more water blade and glanced up at Kuro with a cocky grin. Camilla and Ezra quickly noticed Kirana's smile and looked up to watch Kuro and the Shadow Ninjas disappear from sight.

"Uh, Kirana, what the heck was that?" Ariana asked.

"We didn't get our chance to finish them off too!" Talia said.

"Is there an actual reason why you were showing off, Kirana?" Ezra asked Kirana.

"No." Kirana said. "I was just trying to finish up the Kraang, that's all."

"You sure?" Camilla asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." Kirana agreed.

Camilla and Kirana stared at each other with serious faces, leaving Ariana and Talia wonder what were they really talking about while Ezra wondered how Kuro will be a bad idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Shadow Clan HQ, Donna was performing her techno magic to create a black metallic belt for Masque that will allow her to maintain her ghostly mutant form. Inque was watching the techno mystic doing her work in boredom. Lady Shade was witnessing the metallic belt with pleasing eyes, knowing that Donna's expertise in robotics can lead the Shadow Clan to ultimate success.

Just then, Kuro walked through the doors into the throne room and marched closer to Lady Shade.

"Mother, you won't believe what I've saw." Kuro called with a slightly shock face. "The K-5 have been spotted in the alley. But they were fighting some robotic droids with slimy, brain-squids inside."

"Do not let everything else in this city distracts you." Lady Shade said. "Your primary mission is to destroy them in sight and track down Sage."

"Are you kidding me?" Kuro exclaimed. "Mother, something's weird is going on in this city. First, your own henchwomen got turned into Halloween freaks and now there's alien robots out there that only the K-5 know about! But if you don't find some way to let go that stupid grudge of yours, I might have to find out about those robots on my own. And that's not a threat, that's a promise. I'd rather fight those robots than listening to your annoying vendetta!"

"Enough, Kuro! You will do no such thing and say no more words!" Lady Shade answered sternly. She stepped forward close to Kuro, who was looking down to the floor with a frown. "You haven't forgotten what Shiroibara Sage did to all of us in this clan, did you?"

Kuro continued to look down from Lady Shade's face.

"Sage's continued existence is like a snake ready to strike us clean. Our honor must live decease because of her. Stay focused on your mission, Kuro." Lady Shade ordered as she placed her right hand on Kuro left shoulder.

"Yes, mother." Kuro responded respectfully.

Kuro bowed down to Lady Shade and walked out the throne room to head back outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Ariana was working on her new inventions. Talia and Casey were playing video games in the living room. Kirana and Camilla were locked up in a training battle in the dojo. Unaware to them, Ezra was peeking in the Dojo to watch the spar.

"I can't believe you knew the Shadow Clan were watching us and you didn't say anything." Camilla said.

"It was Kuro that was watching us, not the Shadow." Kirana clarified angrily.

"Kuro is part of the Shadow Clan." Camilla snapped. "And you were showing off to get his attention."

"I was just showing him how formidable we are." Kirana said with a calm look. "That's why I knew he wasn't going to attack us when he has the chance."

"Yeah, so he was just studying our moves for next time." Camilla scolded. "You don't flirt with the enemy, Kirana. You take 'em down like it or not!"

"No! You're wrong about him. He has a good side." Kirana snapped. "We shared the same aura ability. I can feel what he's thinking."

"Oh, well if that's what you feel, why not tell the others?" Camilla asked.

"Because, just like you, they wouldn't understand." Kirana replied.

Camilla swiftly pinned Kirana to the wall with her right leg and moved closer to her older sister's face.

"You really think Ezra, Talia, and Ariana wouldn't understand?" Camilla asked. "We're siblings, Kirana. We struck together no matter what."

Kirana grabbed Camilla's right leg and slammed her younger sister to the wall near her.

"Look, I know what I'm doing." Kirana snapped. "You gotta trust me on this, Camilla."

"And why should I?" Camilla questioned.

"What's going on here?" Sage demanded as she walked towards her daughters with a stern face.

Kirana and Camilla immediately broke up the fight as they glanced each other and exited the dojo without answering their mother's question, leaving Sage wonder why were they fighting about. Ezra hides in the kitchen as Kirana and Camilla walk past the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Kirana sat on the edge of the building rooftop for some fresh air. She was trying to try to clear her head about the conservation earlier in the dojo, but she suddenly felt a black aura hiding in the shadows and stood up from the edge as she turned around and looked up to see Kuro from behind.

"Next time, be a good boy and keep remembering that I have aura sense." Kirana said with a slightly cold voice.

"Ha, there's nothing like a good sneak attack." Kuro said with a playful smile.

"Like you did before last night." Kirana smiled back with a playful tone.

"Oh, really? Haven't even notice that." Kuro said sarcastically. "But those robots did caught my interest. Can you tell me more?"

"Those robots are highly classified dangerous." Kirana replied sternly. "So, do me a favor and stay away from them."

"Well, looks like I could have some fun with them." Kuro grinned. His face slowly became serious. "I was expecting more info from you. How do you know so much about those robots? Tell me why."

"Can't tell you." Kirana said. "I've never thought you would be the curious type. Besides, Camilla doesn't want me to trust you."

"I would like to fight a wild girl like her as well." Kuro said with a shrug. He jumped down to the roof and drew out his dark energy power. "Fighting mages like you will be such a trip."

Kuro fired out a huge beam of dark energy at Kirana, who blocked the attack by creating a large shield of water around herself.

"I'm not really sure that you want to." Kirana said.

"Oh really?" Kuro said with a laugh. "Then, what's this?"

Kuro fired several spheres of dark energy continuously at Kirana from his hands, but Kirana transformed her arms into whips composed of water to slash the dark energy spheres one by one in fast speed.

"A way out of the Shadow Clan." Kirana replied. "Trust me, I can help you find a way."

"Sorry, Kirana, but that's not my reason." Kuro laughed again. "You're appealing. Naive but appealing."

Hearing the word "appealing" made Kirana stop for a minute.

"Were you planning on flirting me at some point?" Kirana said with a small smile.

Kuro smirked and unleashed a large wave of dark energy rushing at Kirana, who jumped high in the air and formed a circular torrent of water in front of her hands to attack the dark mage ninja with a water cyclone.

"It doesn't matter how mant times you want to play games, which I can strongly handle from you. Just leave my siblings out of your attacking list." Kirana demanded.

"What a touching promise, but you should know that I can't do that." Kuro said as he moved closer to Kirana with a smirk on his face.

"Then, hear this. If you ever come after them, I'll come after you one way or another." Kirana replied firmly. "Understand?"

Kuro took a few steps back and removed his mask to glance Kirana with a smile.

"Whatever you say, but I am looking foward to find you again." Kuro said.

Kuro placed his mask back on his face and vanished into the dark energy portal below his feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Casey and the K-5 made their way into their high school for their class project. They walked up the steps and entered inside the building to see a young woman looking at the trophy collection as if she was staring off to space. The woman has fair complexion, long blonde wavy hair with a large zigzag forelock, and violet eyes. She wore a red midriff exposed blazer with high shoulder pads, a matching pencil skirt, lavender silk gloves that left her fingers exposed, and black leather heeled boots.

"Hello." The young woman spoke with a kind smile as she turned around to face the students. "I'm Ms. McGuire from the Worldwide Genome Project. Are you Casey Jones, Shiroibara Kirana, Shiroibara Camilla, Shiroibara Ariana, Shiroibara Talia, and Shiroibara Ezra?"

"Yes, ma'am." Casey, Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra replied together.

"I'm here to present your test results for the WorldWide Genome Project." Ms. McGuire continued. "Please come with me."

Before anyone could walk toward Ms. McGuire, Kirana pulled them back and gave them a firm look on her face.

"Wait a minute." Kirana whispered to her siblings and her friend. "Something's wrong with this woman. I'm not picking up any aura on her."

Ariana turned back to face Ms. McGuire and stomped her left foot on the ground to pick up something off on Ms. McGuire through the vibrations.

"She's a robot from the Kraang!" Ariana shouted.

With quick speed, Ms. McGuire grabbed Casey's arm and pulled him back in the air.

"Casey Jones was supposed to be bait for the K-5, but looks like there has been a change of plans." Ms. McGuire said in a robotic voice with a sly grin.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quickly used their magic to change into their kunoichi and ninja outfits.

"Take her down, guys." Kirana said with a confident grin.

Ms. McGuire's arm transformed into a laser cannon and began firing several neon pink laser blasts at the K-5, who immediately jumped in the air and avoided the attack with ninja speed. Casey released from Ms. McGuire's grasp and used his skates to hit her face that showed neon pink wires and lights behind her robotic outlook before moving out of the way. Ariana created a number of earth spikes that erupted out of the ground and immobilized Ms. McGuire in her position. Camilla fired a number of fiery, curved red beams towards the immobilized Ms. McGuire with a swipe of her arm. Ezra fired a number of lightning strikes to zap Ms. McGuire. Talia created several blades of wind that attacked the immobilized Ms. McGuire. Kirana formed a circular torrent of water in front of her hands and used the water cyclone to attack Ms. McGuire that shocked her to malfunction and short circuit in defeat.

Then, the K-5 and Casey surrounded the downed Kraang robot.

"Yep." Ezra said. "This android obviously came from the Kraang."

"So why would the Kraang wants to send our DNA spit to the WorldWide Genome Project?" Talia asked as she picked up the robotic mask and examined it.

"That I'm not sure, but I bet the Kraang has developed an interest in our mystical style." Camilla replied with a shrug.

"Also, she did say that she gonna use me as bait to lure you guys in." Casey added. "I doubt those scum bags wouldn't be interest in human DNA anyway."

"It could be that the Kraang are hacking to steal information from the Worldwide Genome Project's network." Ariana said.

"Whatever they're doing there, we've got to stop them." Ezra said.

"Casey, head to the fortress where it's safe. We'll go pay a visit to the Worldwide Genome Project." Kirana said to Casey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, the K-5 have located the Worldwide Genome Project building as they were unaware that Kuro was following after them. They arrived inside the building and entered inside the central control room, where the entire place was filled with many different animal DNA pods. The mages looked around to examine the DNA pods, wanting to know why would the Kraang been collecting animal DNA for their purpose.

Then suddenly, Ezra noticed that Camilla was gone.

"Yo, where's Camilla?" Ezra asked Kirana, Ariana, and Talia.

"Found you!"

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked up as they saw Camilla stood on the top of the mutagen core. They watched their red mage sister holding down Kuro in an arm lock.

"Kuro!" Kirana and Ezra said with a surprise and shock.

"Who?" Ariana and Talia asked confusedly.

"Only Kirana's boyfriend." Ezra answered.

"No, he's not!" Kirana protested.

"Heh, didn't expect you to come after us yourself." Camilla commented with a grin.

Kuro attacked Camilla's chest with his left foot and threw her down before quickly getting to his feet.

"I'll be here live enough to have a little fun with you." Kuro smirked.

Camilla growled as she got back up and summoned fire magic from her hands. She charged forward and released powerful fire in a form of a large fireball at Kuro's direction. But Kuro blocked the fireball with his dark energy shield and charged a large sphere of dark energy between his hands to fire it at Camilla in a form of a strong beam, forcing Camilla to block the attack with a flaming force field.

Kirana didn't have time to explain Ariana and Talia what's going on as she immediately jumped high in the air to the mutagen core and landed between them to stop the fight with a water force field.

"Camilla! Kuro!" Kirana shouted. "That's enough!"

But the force of Camilla and Kuro's powers made Kirana release her water force field, causing her to stumble backwards and land her back on the console. The alarm echoed in the air through the facility. Kirana, Camilla, and Kuro jumped down off the mutagen core to join Ariana and Talia as several Kraang droids surrounded the ninjas with armed laser guns.

"The ones who are not authorized by the authority of Kraang to exist in this place will now be destroyed by Kraang in this place." One of the Kraand droids spoke.

The K-5 and Kuro summoned their magic in an offensive stances.

"Now, beating down robots is definitely my idea of fun." Kuro smirked.

As the Kraang droids opened laser fire from their weapons, the six mages charged forward and took down the Kraang droids one by one.

"I knew you were on our side." Kirana smiled to Kuro.

"Don't let that go to your head." Camilla scoffed.

"I really enjoyed taking on your sister, Kirana." Kuro said to Kirana. "She actually puts up a fight."

"Unfortunately for you, I like to break someone slowly and deadly." Camilla said threateningly.

Then, more Kraang droids showed up with a giant plasma cannons that took aim at the six ninjas.

"We're trapped!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Not really." Kuro said with a mischievous smile. He leaned on the console casually and held his index finger above one of the buttons. "I wonder what happens if I do this."

"No, don't do it!" Camilla, Ezra, Kirana, Ariana, and Talia shouted.

"Highly undesirable outcome." One Kraang droids warned.

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Kuro grinned.

As Kuro pressed the button on the console, everyone watched all the DNA from every animal species were being sucked into the mutagen core. The mutagen radiated several different colors as it processed all the animal DNA. After the process was finished, thin smoke poured out from the mutagen core. The K-5, Kuro, and the Kraang droids heard the sound of large stomps and watched a new mutant creation emerged from the core. The mutant was the mixture of a tortoise and a ram. It has a reddish-orange body dotted with dark gray spots. It has metal bangles locked on its legs and four claws are in a cross formation on each of its feet. It also has a gray underside and its face is covered by an iron mask with red-brown eyes uncovered.

"Whoa! I always wanted to fight a beast like that!" Kuro said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Kuro dove out of the way as the genetic mutant rammed towards the armed Kraang droids and destroyed all of the charging alien robots at its sight.

"How the heck are we gonna defeat this creature?" Talia asked the others.

"Maybe we can use our magic to its weak spot." Ezra suggested.

"Excellent answer." Kuro replied sarcastically in a casual tone. "Well, gotta split."

Just before Kuro headed for the exit, he stopped running and collapsed his knees to the floor as his mind was racing very rapidly. That caught the K-5's attention. Kuro cracked his eyes open again as his vision was becoming more blurrier. All he could hear was the babble of childlike voices. Strange images were racing through his mind. He saw himself swimming through clear blue water next to a little girl who looked exactly like…

Kirana. Kuro thought as he was forcing the images from his head. They confused him and he had to concentrate on what was taking place around him. Those voices. We were outside...together as kids.

Kuro got up from the floor and delivered several dark energy spheres continuously at the mutant from his hands, leaving the five mages confused and surprised at the same time. Kirana couldn't believe this. She's a bit confused, but she still likes him.

As the six mage ninjas charged forward at the mutant, four out of six mages were caught by the mutant. Camilla was being pulled towards the mutant's large claw into the air as she was struggling to free herself out of the mutant's electric grasp, Talia was getting smacked hard against the wall several times by the mutant's right leg claw, Ezra was trying to break free from the mutant's tentacle, and Ariana screamed in pain as a stream of brownish-white electricity hit her. Kirana and Kuro looked around at the four downed mages.

"I'm sorry, Kirana." Kage apologized with a frown. "None of this would have happened if I haven't press that button and made this mess."

Kirana glanced at Kuro with a surprised face, but she remained focused on the battle.

"We all make mistakes, Kuro." Kirana said, placing her hand on Kuro's shoulder. "Now, help me finish this."

Kuro became speechless for a minute and nodded his head with a grin.

"Alright." Kuro said.

Kirana and Kuro charged forward towards the mutant while dodging the brownish-white electric blasts from its mouth. Kirana swiped her arm in the air to unleash scythe-like blades of water at the mutant on the left side and Kuro created a glowing sphere of dark energy to shoot it in a form of tentacles at the mutant on the right side. The mutant took the hit from both attacks and crashed through the wall unconsciously. Kuro twisted his index finger around in a zigzag motion and pointed his magic at the downed mutant, surrounding the entire room with ten ticking bombs. Kirana picked up her conscious siblings with her water tentacles as she and Kuro ran out the exit once the bombs were set to zero.

After the six mage ninjas escaped the building, they watched the Worldwide Genome Project building burning from the building rooftop.

"I don't get it." Kirana said to Kuro. "What was the real reason why you help me back there?"

"That question is personal. I need to figure that out myself." Kuro replied firmly. He let out a tiny smirk on his face. "But you guys sure know how to show me a good time against your enemies. See you around."

Kuro took a gentleman bow and vanished into the dark energy portal below his feet.

"Well, he's gone." Talia said with a shrug.

"At least he didn't ditch us." Ezra said.

"Now, someone has some explaining to do." Ariana said, looking at Kirana with a stern face.

Kirana looked away with a heavy sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Kirana finally decided to tell her family everything about Kage.

"I should've told you about Kuro from the moment I saw him." Kirana said. "But I knew that he has a good heart. Also, I did...liked him too. There. I'm done."

"Whoa, I still can't believe you trusted him from the start." Ezra said.

"But I do not understand why you did not tell us about him." Norbit added.

"I know and I'm really sorry." Kirana said, looking at her family with guilt.

"Well, I did tried to warn her." Casey said with a sigh.

"Heh. You too?" Camilla muttered, looking at Casey with a sidelong glance.

"Kirana." Sage said as she stepped forward to her oldest daughter and puts her hand on Kirana's shoulder. "You're not the first mage to experience mixed feelings over a boy, but you must remain cautious on your trust with Kuro or you will learn from that mistake."

"Thank you for understanding, mother." Kirana said with a small smile.

Later, Kirana walked towards her bedroom door and Camilla chased after her.

"Hey, Kirana." Camilla called. "I'm glad you came to your senses."

"Don't let that go to your head." Kirana grinned. "I was still right about Kuro being on our side by helping me saving you and the other three."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Camilla grinned as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But I have to admit he's handsome...in a wicked kinda way."

"Well, you don't have to worry." Kirana said with a smile. "I'm so over my feelings for him."

Camilla smiled back and walked past Kirana to her bedroom. Kirana was looking at the ground with a small grin, knowing that Kuro does have a good side after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kuro was walking into the throne room and saw Donna still working on a black metallic belt to get Masque's ghostly body into physical.

"The robots called themselves the Kraang." Kuro said as he stood next to Donna. "I saw them up close in action."

"I've told you before, Kuro." Lady Shade said with a glare. "This clan will have no value or interest in this robot nonscene."

"Donna, this kind of technology can actually help you." Kuro said to Donna as he took a small metallic device from his pocket. "I may not found the body, but this device functions their robot bodies. Maybe you can find some use of it."

Kuro handed the small metallic device to Donna, who installed it inside the black metallic belt and her invention functioned the belt perfectly.

"This is the exact piece of tecnhology that I've been trying to develop." Donna grinned. "Good eye, Kuro."

"Very well. See if you can find out more about this Kraang." Lady Shade praised as she walked over to Kuro and placed her hands on her son's shoulders. "Their useful technology could help us in our war against the remaining Magnolia Clan. Well done, Kuro."

Kuro smiled to himself as he knows that his mother have no idea about his real motives.

"My goal is only to find out about my sketchy piece of my memory." Kuro thought. "Even if it involve Kirana in my life."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

In the Crete Fortress, four mages were inside the garage as they waited impatiently for their purple mage sister to finish up her latest project.

"Where the heck is Ariana?" Camilla sighed as she placed her hands on her hips. "She better not waste our time here."

"I'm sure she'll be finish with her invention by now, Camilla." Kirana said calmly.

"Well, she better hurry up." Talia complained. "Because I want to try out her new invention anyway."

"It better be worth the wait." Ezra said, impatiently.

Then suddenly, the floor opened itself in half and the siblings looked quickly to see a black fifth generation Chevrolet Camaro rising up from the bright light before the floor closed itself shut. The black automobile was equipped with a retractable top-mounted laser and a blast cannon on either sides, a long-range missile weapon shooter attached to the top, and two bumper-mounted wrecking balls from behind. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra looked at the vehicle with wide eyes. Ariana came out from the opening door with a smug smile.

"It's worth it." Ezra admitted.

"So cool!" Talia gasped with an exciting smile.

"Well, what do you guys think?" Ariana asked.

"I can't believe you turned our dream car into this powered machine!" Kirana grinned incredulously.

"Ariana, you are so awesome!" Camilla exclaimed with a wide smile.

"So what are we call this baby?" Ezra asked.

"I've got it!" Talia exclaimed excitedly. "Sonicruiser! It's so perfect!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra exchanged looks before staring back at Talia.

"Now, that's a perfect name." Kirana said surprisingly.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra followed Ariana into the vehicle as they couldn't believe their eyes. The inside of the car was huge as it was conserving blue, red, purple, orange, and turquoise electricity that lit up around the vehicle in an illuminating manner.

"After building this vehicle, I have designed five different stations for each of us." Ariana explained. "But my job is to maintain the vehicle's vital functions, so I can't drive the Sonicruiser."

"I want the driving seat!" Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra exclaimed excitedly.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra were pushing each other to drive the vehicle at the driver's station, but Ariana's magic created a purple energy barrier between them and the driver's seat.

"I already made my decision on the driver's station." Ariana said firmly. "Kirana's driving."

Kirana grinned smugly and she sat down in the driver's seat excitedly.

"Wait, why?" Camilla, Talia, and Ezra asked indignantly.

"Because she's the least likely to run into things for fun." Ariana explained.

"Good point." Talia and Camilla admitted.

"And she's not too young." Ariana explained to her younger brother.

"Touché." Ezra admitted.

"Besides, I already assigned you three with the other stations." Ariana said as she gestured Camilla, Talia, and Ezra to the back of the vehicle. "Camilla operates the vehicle's weapons and defenses while Talia navigates the vehicle and Ezra creates magic spells to be useful on weapons and scan information on mages or mutant mages."

Camilla, Talia, and Ezra sat down at their station with huge smiles.

"Before we can this baby moving, what kind of power source you use on this thing?" Ezra asked with a grin.

"I use the Kraang power cell we got from Mala." Ariana explained proudly. "I used to fuel the vehicle while I can regulate its output under a lead glass shield that way the Kraang tracked it."

Ariana pressed a button that opened the fortress garage exit to the open air.

"Now, drive this baby, Kirana!" Ariana shouted.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Kirana shouted back.

Kirana turned on the Sonicruiser and pushed the vehicle forward with fast speed. Four mages screamed in terror as the Sonicruiser drove forward out into the city through the open air. But Kirana remained calm and pressed the glowing red button to activate the rocket boosters for the vehicle can fly in the sky. Ariana then turned on the radio and rock music began playing through the vehicle. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra smiled cheerfully as they were having a great time of their lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the K-5 took the Sonicruiser a ride in the sky, Camilla and Ezra opened the ceiling hatch and smiled wide to feel the strong breeze of wind blowing through their faces until they spotted something down below.

"Hey, Kirana!" Camilla said suddenly as she and Ezra dropped back into the vehicle. "Make a landing!"

Kirana did what her sister told and landed the Sonicruiser on the ground near the large alleyway. The mages looked at the view screen and saw the Wuju Twins stealing a Kraang tech box.

"The Wuju Twins!" Kirana exclaimed with a laugh. "This night keeps getting better by the minute!"

"Oh yeah! It's Halloween time!" Camilla grinned as she cracked her knuckles in preparation. "Let's do this!"

"Wait a minute, guys." Ariana said. She pointed her finger at the shadowy figure standing on top of a dumpster on the screen. "Who the heck is that?"

The Wuju Twins halted themselves as they turned around and saw the human vigilante in the shadows. The vigilante looked overweight with skimpy legs. He has the height around Ariana to Kirana's height. He has has brown hair and brown eyes. He also wore a turtle based costume covering from head to toe with a belt that had the letter P on it. His face was shown with a red mask.

"Excuse me, ladies!" The human vigilante said. "But you didn't even pay for that!"

"And what are you gonna do?" Juli said. "Two against one isn't a fair match."

"How about call a couple friends to make things interested?" The human vigilante questioned. He jumped down from on top of the dumpster and stepped towards the gang twins. "It's time to face the wrath of…the Pulverizer!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked closely to the screen as they watched the mysterious human vigilante making random sounds with no fighting ability. The Wuju Twins giggled for the poor performance and moved forward to deliver several punches and kicks at the Pulverizer, making the five mages feel bad for the human vigilante. That's when a female teen stood behind the Wuju Twins, causing them to turn around from the Pulverizer. The female teen has the same height as the Pulverizer, but she is more slim than him. She has fair skin, long black hair tied in neon green twintails and brown eyes. She wore a black long sleeved shirt with a green tank top, a black jean shorts with dark green tights, and black knee-high boots.

"Why waste your time fighting him when you can fight me?" The female mage grinned.

"It's about time, Sandra." The Pulverizer said.

Sandra rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh and charged forward to deilver swift kicks at the Wuju Twins, which had made the K-5 extremely impress.

"I don't know about him, but the girl got some skills." Kirana said. "Let's go help them."

The K-5 immediately ran out of the Sonicruiser and surrounded the Wuju Twins with their elemental magic.

"What the?" Sandra exclaimed as she looked around at the mage kunoichis and mage ninja. "More mages?"

"Hello, guys! Remember me?" The Pulverizer grinned flirtatiously at the mage kunoihcis and mage ninjas.

"Timothy?" Ariana gasped.

The Wuju Twins didn't waste time of the conservation and they began attacking the K-5 with acrobatic kicks. Ariana moved the Pulverizer aside and charged forward with her siblings. In quick seconds, the Wuju Twins were defeated by the combination magic combat of Sandra and the K-5. But the twins were able to use a bit of their strength to escape with the stolen Kraang tech box.

Just then, the sound of the police sirens caught the K-5's attention.

"It's the cops!" Kirana said to her younger siblings. "Let's move!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra ran towards the Sonicruiser as they climbed into the vehicle.

"Hey, wait!" The Pulverizer called as he and Sandra chased after the mages. "I didn't know you five were ninjas!"

"That's because it was none of your business." Camilla snapped from the window. "Now, go home, Timothy. Sandra, you're coming with us."

"Sure." Sandra smiled with a shrug as she climbed inside the vehicle.

"Yeah, but I was wondering we can work together sometime." The Pulverizer said.

Camilla rolled her eyes and rolled up the window, but the Pulverizer quickly climbed on top of the Sonicruiser and held on tight when the vehicle started driving back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortess, the Sonicruiser was parked into the garage perfectly. Ariana jumped out of the Sonicruiser and looked up to see the Pulverizer shaking with pure fear on top of the vehicle.

"Uh, guys, we got a problem!" Ariana warned her siblings.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Sandra quickly stepped out of the vehicle as they looked up with their eyes widened wide. Ezra got the shaking Pulverizer off the vehicle and the human vigilante began to stand up on the ground with a groan.

"Hey, are you ok, Timothy?" Ezra asked concernedly.

"I'm fine." The Pulverizer groaned. He looked at Ezra with a grin. "Thanks to you, little companion."

Ezra rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Well, this is just perfect!" Camilla snapped. "Now, the moron knows the location of our home."

"Oh, don't worry about that." The Pulverizer said to Camilla. "I got freaked out all the way here."

"So you have no idea we are kunoichis and our brother is a ninja?" Ariana asked.

"No, not really." The Pulverizer replied with an enthusiastic smile. "But I've always known something special about you five since the first day." He looked at Kirana. "You were always the serious leader!" He turned quickly to Camilla. "Oh, you were the tough girl bully!" He pointed to Ezra. "Oh, and you were the confident guy!" He pointed at Talia. "Oh, then you were wild athlete!" He then pointed at Ariana. "Oh, and you were like the smart, silent girl but...in a cute way."

There was a moment of silence between the Pulverizer and the K-5. Ezra, Talia, and Kirana looked slightly concerned while Camilla, Sandra, and Ariana looked irritated.

"Okay, we gotta get him out of here." Camilla said, turning back to her siblings.

"Yeah, but where did he go?" Sandra asked slowly.

"I think I know where." Ezra said, in a deadpan tone.

The K-5 looked around to notice that the Pulverizer was running into Ariana's lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the K-5 and Sandra ran into the lab, they watched the Pulverizer exploring the place with excitement as he was playing around the confused Phantom.

"This lab is awesome!" The Pulverizer grinned. He picked up a Kraang droid control from the desk and staring at it. "Whoa, is that Kraang tech?"

"Give me that!" Ariana scowled as she snatched the Kraang technology piece away from the Pulverizer.

"And how do you know that was Kraang technology?" Talia asked.

"Not only because those twins stole it, but some friends I know were looking for them too." The Pulverizer explained.

"Friends? Heh, like you even have one." Camilla scoffed. She turned her attention to Sandra. "So, how did a mage like you stop by in New York?"

"Well, I was traveling around the world on your own." Sandra said. "But Timothy saw me fighting against those freaky robots who were tracking me down, so I have no choice but to stick him for a while. But he's not bad for the tour around the city."

"But why would the Wuju Twins want Kraang robotics, anyway?" Kirana asked Ariana. "I mean, they aren't smart enough to learn about that kind of technology."

"True, but I believe that they were stealing it for someone else." Ezra said.

"But who else would be interested in robotic parts?" Ariana wondered.

"Donna!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra exclaimed at once.

"Let's check it out." Kirana said. "Ariana, fix the Sonicruiser and take Rubber Boy home. Ezra, Sandra, you two stay here with them."

"Say what?" Ariana shouted as she watched her sisters running out of the lab. "You can't leave us here with him!"

"Great." Pulverizer smiled as he moved closer to Ariana. "Now, this will be the perfect time for us to get to know each other."

"Geez, lucky me." Ariana moaned sarcastically.

"I'm gonna go get a barf bag." Ezra said as he left.

"I'll be happy to blast him if he annoys you." Sandra whispered to Ariana.

"Thanks." Ariana whispered back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, three mages arrived at Donna's lab as they found her and the Wuju Twins with stolen Kraang tech, causing the mages to whirl around and face the mage kunoichis.

"Donna!" Kirana called out. "Your robotic schemes ends now!"

"Not until you see what I've been working on." Donna said with a sinister smile.

Donna snapped her fingers and a familiar ghost mage mutant glided past the Wuju Twins to float in front of the K-5, who have noticed that she has a metallic belt around her waist that was perfected with the use of reverse-engineered Kraang technology. Kirana, Camilla, and Talia bursted out laughing as they weren't easily intimidated by the mutated Sapphire at all.

"Looks like someone has a blind spot for cheap belts!" Kirana joked as she took a breath from laughing.

Sapphire hissed and fired a large-sized ghost white energy sphere at the mage kunoichis, who dodged aside from the attack.

"Uh oh, Masque's sensitivity is kicking in." Talia teased.

"Dude, you're calling her Masque?" Kirana asked with a grin.

"Seems like a fair name." Talia replied.

Masque charged forward at the K-5 and shot out many explosive ghost white energy rings at them. Camilla charged forward and dodged each incoming explosive ghost white energy rings as she fired a bullet-esque sphere of flame towards Masque at her sight. Masque became intangible to let the attack phase through her and charged straight towards Camilla like a bullet as she kicked the red mage kunoichi into the air and punched her straight into the wall with her ghost white energized fist. Camilla growled and went straight for Masque in a one-to-one combat. During their battle, Masque's claws radiated with blazing ghost white energy and stabbed them into Camilla's back. Camilla's scream made Kirana and Talia look up sharply to their attention. Camilla stepped away with Masque and with a painful groan as she collapsed to the ground. Kirana charged forward at Masque as Talia instantly ran over to check on Camilla.

"Camilla, are you okay?" Talia asked with worry.

Camilla has ghost white energy lines on her entire skin and she opened her eyes that revealed to be deep white. Talia started to shake Camilla, but she has not gained consciousness.

"She's paralyzed!" Talia shouted frantically.

"Get Ariana and Ezra on the phone!" Kirana shouted as she was blocking Masque's ghost white energy blasts with her water shield. "We need them to create an antidote!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Ariana climbed into the Sonicruiser with her tools and got to work. Ezra read through his spell books to test out new spells. Sandra was walking around the vehicle with an amazed face. Pulverizer kept bugging Ariana with his flirting talk as he climbed on the top of the Sonicruiser and sat next to her. Ariana snapped her fingers and Sandra swiftly released a medium-sized sphere of green ultraviolet energy that sent Pulverizer falling off to the floor. Pulverizer rubbed his head and discovered many potions on the desk.

"Whoa, what are these bottles?" Pulverizer grinned gleefully.

"Leave my potions alone." Ariana warned as she wasn't even looking up from her work.

"It's so cool." Pulverizer said as he was holding one of the potions in his hands.

"What a dork." Sandra groaned with a heavy sigh.

"Don't worry, I'm totally careful with stuff like this." Pulverizer said with a smile.

Pulverizer opened the potion and started shaking so fast that it flew right out of his hands. Ariana caught the potion skillfully without looking up and then lifted her high-tech blowtorch goggles to her forehead as she jumped off the vehicle and moved close to Pulverizer's face.

"Look, can you see that I'm in the middle of fixing the Sonicruiser here?" Ariana said angrily. She took a meditative breath with a sigh and placed her potion back on the desk. "I'm only to say this one. Do. Not. Touch. My. Stuff. Never!"

"Okay, doll face." Pulverizer said. He approached closely towards Ariana, who was stepping back from him. "But how about you and I go cruising under stars at my place?"

"I rather drown myself in the ocean." Ariana said with narrow eyes.

Suddenly, Sandra let out a violent sneeze accompanied by her utlraviolet magic that shot from her nose. The impact sent Ariana and Pulverizer flying out of the lab, leaving them roll into the dojo to crash into a wall.

That's when Sage came up over them.

"Care to explain, Ariana?" Sage asked with a raised eyebrow.

Pulverizer pulled himself on top of Ariana with a beaming smile, but Ariana gave him a glare and shoved Pulverizer off her before looking up at her firm-looking mother.

"Mother, this is Pulverizer." Ariana introduced as she looked up at her mother. She then looked to see Ezra and the congesting Sandra walking in the dojo. "And that's Sandra."

"Please to meet you, ma'am." Pulverizer said to Sage.

"Hey." Sandra said with a small wave.

"I'm sorry, mother." Ariana sighed. "The guys and I found them on the street trying to fight the Wuju Twins. He's a human and she's a mystic. We let her join us to the fortress, but he accidentally wound up back here. So, yeah."

"Plus, she finds me irresistible." Pulverizer smiled, leaning close to Ariana.

Ariana stared at Pulverizer with a deadpan look, but she quickly heard her K-Phone ringing from her belt and took it out to press a green answer button on the screen.

"Hello?" Ariana answered.

"Ariana!" Talia's voice shouted from the phone. "We definietly need your help right now! Camilla has been paralyzed by Sapphire!"

"But that's not possible." Ariana insisted. "There's no way Sapphire's powers can do that!"

"I don't care if she can lift an entire skyscaper with her new powers!" Talia shouted. "JUST GET OVER HERE!"

Ariana hang up her K-Phone and hurried back to the Sonicruiser with Ezra, Pulverizer and Sandra close behind.

"We'll need to mix the antidote for Camilla on the way there." Ariana said to Ezra, Pulverizer and Sandra as she packed important potion materials into a black toolbox. "Do any of you know how to drive?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Pulverizer smirked. "I've been driving an ice cream truck all summer."

"That we're going to regret." Sandra said with a smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Pulverizer sped the Sonicruiser into the driver's seat through the streets of New York while Sandra, Ezra, and Ariana sat on the floor as they were organizing things for Camilla's antidote. But they used their magic to leviate the stuff in mid-air because of Pulverizer's unsteady driving due to him crashing into street poles and running over various objects along the way.

"Told you we're going to regret it." Sandra said to Ariana. "I don't even know how this kid got his driver's license."

"You said you knew how to drive, Timothy!" Ezra called as he, Ariana, and Sandra were holding onto each other.

"But not over eight miles an hour on the street." Pulverizer protested.

"Just try to hold it steady." Ariana ordered. "Sandra, help him out. Ezra, I need your help with the antidote."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Sandra said.

"On it, Ari." Ezra said.

Sandra got up carefully and moved to the driver station while Ariana pulled out her K-phone and speed dialed Talia.

"Talia, how's Camilla?" Ariana asked, looking at the floating potions.

"She's looking pale, Ariana. Like pale white." Talia reported.

"Okay, okay." Ariana said with a nod. She began mixing a few things into a flask.

"Quick question, is she salivating by any chance?" Ezra asked.

"Definitely." Talia groaned. "All over the floor."

"How's Kirana?" Ariana asked.

"Not too good." Talia replied. "Hurry and get here, guys!"

"Almost there." Ezra promised assuringly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kirana was struggling with Masque's ghost white energy magic and Masque stomped her feet down hard on Talia's chest.

"This is almost too easy." Masque grinned.

Suddenly, the Sonicruiser came crashing through the wall and skidded to a stop that caught everybody's attention.

Masque glared at the vehicle, but she got knocked backwards to the ground by a bluish-white zigzag laser beam on either sides of the Sonicruiser. Ariana, Ezra, Sandra, and the Pulverizer ran out of the Sonicruiser as they hurried towards Camilla.

"Don't worry, sis. You'll be okay." Ariana said to Camilla.

Ariana took out an injector gun and inserted it into Camilla's neck that pumped the antidote into the red mage's system. Camilla took a breath from the jolt of pain and her eyes cleared as she looked up at Ariana, who was helping her older sister to her feet.

"Thanks, Ariana." Camilla smiled.

"Yes!" Pulverizer cheered happily. "Mission success!"

"Oh, shut up, Timothy!" Ariana snapped.

"Enough! We saved Camilla, no sense to bricker now." Ezra snapped at Ariana.

"Uh, Ariana?" Talia said with a squeak. "We have a problem with the Soncruiser!"

Everyone glanced at the vehicle and noticed the pinkish-purple electricity surging the Soncruiser. They quickly ran towards the vehicle and climbed inside. Ariana quickly made her way to the back, where she headed straight for the power cell.

"Uh no! It's cracked!" Ariana gasped shockingly. "We gotta move before the Kraang come looking for the power cell!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the Sonicruiser sped back onto the road as fast as it could with Kirana's control of the steering wheel. From the view screen, two white vans came around the corner and started speeding right in front of them.

"Uh, guys, we got company." Sandra said.

"The Kraang found us!" Ezra alerted his sisters.

The two wrecking balls came crashing the vans in front of the Sonicruiser thanks to Camilla. But when six Kraang droids came out of the vans, they began propelling to the Sonicruiser and landed themselves on the roof.

"Hey, we got Kraang on the roof!" Kirana said to the others.

"We're on it!" Sandra said.

As Talia, Ariana, and Sandra immediately leaped up to the roof to take down the Kraang droids, another white van barreled towards the Sonicruiser that made the vehicle heading straight for the buidling wall. Everyone screamed as they braced themselves as the Sonicruiser crashed hard into the wall. Talia, Ariana, and Sandra hung to the floor tightly. Kirana suddenly jumped out of the vehicle and attacked the Kraang droid. Camilla, Sandra, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra joined with the blue mage and attacked every alien robots in sight. During the battle, Kirana noticed one of the Kraang droids was running off with a glowing pink shard in its arms.

"That Kraang got the cell!" Kirana shouted. "Don't let him get away!"

"I'm on it!" Pulverizer announced as he jumped out of the Sonicruiser and ran after the Kraang droid.

"No, Timothy!" Ariana yelled as she was using her earth magic to take down two Kraang droids.

Pulverizer didn't listen. He ran up behind the Kraang droid with the power cell and slid across the ground to sweep his legs to take down the alien robot, but it failed miserably as the Kraang droid just stood there. The Kraang droid grabbed Pulverizer and swung him to the nearby building wall, leaving the human vigilante with two other Kraang droids while the Kraang carried the power cell to the boarded helicopter that was landing down on the ground. Ariana spotted Pulverizer in trouble and sculpted a gigantic fist from the ground, sending it to attack one Kraang droid with one punch. Sandra joined Ariana and fired a beam of green ultraviolet energy at the other Kraang droid. The K-5, Sandra, and Pulverizer looked up to watch the slow helicopter flying off with the power cell inside of it.

"I'm sorry for messing things up, guys." The Pulverizer apologized with a groan.

"Hey, don't feel bad." Talia said gently.

"Um, Talia, he should be." Kirana corrected shortly.

"Not really." Sandra admitted. "I'm the one who sent the Sonicruiser through the wall and that's what cracked the power cell. I'm the one who should be sorry."

"But hey, we did what we have to do." Ariana grinned with a shrug.

"So, Ariana..." Pulverizer said with a smile. "Think we could go on a date sometime?"

"Not. A. Chance." Ariana said as she approached Pulverizer with a deadpan look.

"I understand." Pulverizer said. "But I'll be back for you. Just wait and see."

"Good-bye!" The K-5 and Sandra said forcefully.

Pulverizer walked off into the night and headed back home.

"Well, I'm out." Sandra smiled at the five mages. "Today was really fun meeting more mages. I'll come back and visit you guys soon."

With that, Sandra leaped in the air and disappeared out of sight.

"We've got to figure out how we're getting that power cell back from the Kraang." Ariana said.

"Forget the power cell. We got a bigger problem over there." Camilla said, pointing her finger to the Sonicruiser.

The K-5 turned back to the Sonicruiser that was still crashed into the wall.

"So, how are we going to get the Sonicruiser home?" Kirana questioned.

"Oh please. It's not like we can push it all the way home." Talia scoffed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla pushed the Sonicruiser across the opening purple portal in the alley. They pushed it back home while Ariana was sitting in the driver's seat inside the Sonicruiser.

"Me and my big mouth!" Talia groaned.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ezra snapped.

"Ariana, this is gonna take us forever to move this thing!" Camilla shouted. "Are you positive that the parking brake isn't on?"

"Yes! Now quit asking me the same question!" Ariana answered with an irritated yell. She then looked down to notice that she actually did have the parking brake on. She immediately turned off and poked her head out the door. "Oh, my mistake, guys! You can try it now!"

"Ariana!" Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra groaned frustratingly as they continued to push the Sonicruiser with their strengths.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

The K-5 sped through the streets on the Titan Karts as they chased after two Kraang droids inside a black helicopter in an attempt to get back the power cell. But the helicopter was too flying fast, which made Kirana and Camilla to pull a lever on either side of them to make the kart splitting up into five separate cars. They managed to move out of the way of the cars and people in the roads before finally coming together again and continuing their speedy travel down the road. Unfortunately, they took the right turn that leads to a dead end. Kirana slammed on the brakes and twisted the wheel, causing the karts to spin out of control. Her younger siblings shouted in terror once the karts almost crashed to the building wall in the alley. But the helicopter carrying the Kraang with the power cell kept flying away for their escape.

"Oh man, they got away with the power cell." Ariana groaned, taking out her K-Phone from her waist belt. "Now, I gotta expand the K-Phone's tracking system to find them now."

"That means more work. Hooray." Ezra groaned.

"Then, we gotta see Mala." Kirana said.

"What? Mala?" Ariana asked nervously. "Kirana, please tell me we're not also going to see her?"

"Yes." Kirana replied with a firm face. "Besides, she's the one who took the power cell from the Kraang before, so she might know exactly where she found it in the first place."

"And she's also the one who likes to grab my neck and slam me like a plush toy." Ariana whined.

Talia and Ezra laugh but stop when Ariana glares at them.

"Oh yeah, that was too hilarious to watch." Talia said with a laugh.

Ariana turned to face Talia with a death glare as her eyes turned pure white, forming ten giant fists made out of earth from the ground.

"On second thought, ever mind." Talia grinned nervously. "Let's go!"

Talia quickly zoomed over to her older sisters for safety as Ariana watched her younger sister in fear. Ezra grabbed Ariana's hand and pulled her to the carts with him.

"Alright, Poison Ivy. Let's move." Ezra said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 found the napping Mala in the main room inside the same abandoned building they found her battling the Kraang.

"Well, there she is." Ezra whispered, pointing his finger to the sleeping mutant fox.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Talia asked slowly.

"Waking her up obviously." Kirana replied.

"But who's gonna wake her?" Ariana asked nervously.

"Not it!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra spoke at the same time as they darted away.

That left Talia alone and she realized that she has to be the one to wake her up. As she rolled her eyes with a sigh, Talia silently tiptoed to the mutant fox and began poking Mala's head with her index finger. Mala's eyes opened without a sign of a vindictiveness and she stood to her full height in front of Talia.

"Talia?" Mala said with a yawn. She began stretching her limbs and looked around the room at the other four mages, who were walking towards her without any fear. "It's nice to see my friends again. I was just having the most wonderful nap ever."

"Well, that I'm happy because you didn't grabbed me by the neck." Ariana said. "I mean, come on. What's wrong with me and my neck?"

"Do you really want us to answer that question?" Camilla questioned with a smirk.

"So what brings you here?" Mala asked.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra shared a glance as Ariana moved behind Kirana.

"Ariana?" Kirana said slowly. "Care to explain?"

"Not really." Ariana replied quickly as she moved away to the center of the room. "I'm not getting grabbed by the neck again."

"Fine." Kirana said with a heavy sigh. "We knida lost the power cell to the Kraang and we wanted to know why would the Kraang would need it, so we can get it back."

"I'm not mad, but I'm sure you all did everything you could with your magic to protect it." Mala said calmly.

"Yup!" Talia said quickly.

"Absolutely!" Camilla said with a quick nod.

"The Kraang can open the portal to Dimension X with that power cell." Mala said. "But all I know is this symbol."

Mala drew a hard sketch on the floor with her claws. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra stared at the drawing to see that the symbol looked like six hexagons attached together in an almost flower shape pattern. Ariana took out her K-Phone, hoping that she can give her a clue on where the Kraang could have taken the power cell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the K-5 gathered together to stare the symbol on Ariana's sketchbook in her lab. Ariana had spread out various Kraang equipment on her desks she had been collecting around the city. While Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra have no idea what the symbol means, Ariana was trying to jog her memory about the symbol.

"Is it an Olympic symbol?" Talia asked.

"No." Ariana responded flatly.

"Are you sure?" Talia asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because it does look like an Olympic symbol."

"Stop talking." Ariana said with an irritated glare. "It's a Kraang symbol obviously."

"From where exactly?" Kirana questioned.

"Duh, it's from the Olympics!" Talia shouted.

"Shut up!" Ariana hollered.

Ariana's sudden burst of anger made her siblings jump back in alarm. Kirana held her arms defensively in the air while Talia and Camilla held onto each other tightly.

"Get out of my lab, so I can think here!" Ariana shouted frustratingly.

In a nick of speed, the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja bolted out of the lab that left Ariana staring back at the symbol.

"Oh, the Olympic symbol?"

"No, it's not the Olympic symbol!" Ariana hollered. She turned to face the sound of the voice and quickly calmed herself down at the sight of her mother from behind. "Oh, sorry for my yell, mother. I was trying to figure out this symbol, but it couldn't. I could've sworn I've seen it before."

"Just be calm and visualize it in your memory through your mind, Ariana." Sage said wisely. "Focus and concentrate."

Ariana did what her mother said as she took a deep breath to focus on the symbol through her mind until she finally figured it out.

"I know where it is!" Ariana gasped. She sprinted out through the lab door. "Thanks, mother!"

"Anytime." Sage smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Ariana was moving across the building rooftops as Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra were chasing after her with extreme confusion.

"Ariana, wait up!" Kirana shouted.

"Yeah, slow down, girl!" Talia yelled.

"I hate when you act like this!" Camilla groaned.

Ariana stopped on the highest rooftop and pulling out her K-Phone, showing her three sisters and younger brother the picture of the Kraang symbol on the screen.

"I finally know where I've seen this symbol." Ariana said.

"Where?" Ezra asked.

"There." Ariana replied, turning around and pointing her finger in front of her.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra followed Ariana's gaze to the business building across the city. The building was large, mysterious facility with the large letters "TCRI" printed above it.

"TCRI?" Camilla gasped said incredulously. "So they were behind the Kraang plot."

"And the invasion." Kirana added.

"So, not the Olympics?" Talia asked.

Camilla immediately hit Talia on the head with her fist.

Suddenly, the K-5 heard a noise from behind them and summoned their magic in defense but widen their eyes to see Norbit.

"Oh sorry, Norbit." Ezra apologized. "We thought it was danger."

"What are you doing here, Norbit?" Ariana asked the robot friend.

"I detected a sign of distress." Norbit responded. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"It's another Kraang mission. But it's a big deal." Ezra answered.

"Would TCRI be a part of this mission?" Norbit asked.

"You know it." Camilla said. "And they're gonna open up a portal from their world."

"Terrible things could come out of that portal." Talia added.

"From their own world." Ezra added.

"That is not pleasant." Norbit said.

"They have kept hidden in plain sight this whole time." Ariana said. "We never saw it coming."

"It's pretty obvious what we have to do." Kirana said. "We're going in and shut that portal out."

"But how?" Camilla asked. "Even if we were able to sneak in, how are we gonna get past the Kraang?"

"I think I have a plan." Ariana smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Casey had arrived in front of the TRCI entrance and began wheeling an oversized crate into the lobby as a delivery boy.

"Special delivery." Casey said aloud.

Before Casey can reach to the elevator, Ms. McGuire stood behind him and grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, but we are closed for right now." Ms. McGuire said.

Then suddenly, the Kraang droids had surrounded Casey. But fortunately, Casey tossed out explosive pucks at the Kraang droids and escaped from Ms. McGuire's grasp before heading out of the exit.

"See ya, sucka!" Casey shouted.

The Kraang droids and Ms. McGuire gathered the crate with armed weapons. As the alien robots opened the top of the crate, Mala brusted out and began slicing the Kraang droids at her sight while the K-5 made their way onto the top of the elevator through the emergency hatch. As Camilla climbed to an elevator door, she opened the door and saw many Kraang-droids putting on flesh human disguise. The Kraang droids noticed that Camilla was staring at them wide eyes, making her scream and close the door.

"You guys do not want to go in there!" Camilla said to the her sisters.

Suddenly, the K-5 heard the loud sound of an alarm ringing in the building. They looked up to see a Kraang droid starts firing neon pink energy lasers down at them. Talia formed a small vortex of wind around her leg and jumped above the Kraang droid to deliver a kick, releasing a large pressurized blast of wind that hurled the alien robots several meters down to the empty darkness. As the elevator began rising up from beneath them, the K-5 opened the elevator emergency hatch and found a squad of Kraang droids inside.

"Get them!" Kirana said.

Ezra used his electricity to cut off the power in the elevator as Ezra used an energy ball to knock out the alien robots quickly. Ezra turns the power back on and the K-5 jump in the elevator.

"Now, how are we gonna ride this thing to the top?" Camilla asked.

"According to the elevator system, we need a retinal scanner." Ariana said as she examined the elevator control panel.

Camilla ripped one destroyed Kraang droid's head and placed it on the control panel, allowing the system to accept the scan and the elevator moved itself upwards.

"That was easy." Talia said.

As the elevator reached the top floor to their destination, the K-5 summoned their magic to prepare for battle. But unfortunately, the opening doors released toxic green gas.

"Oh no! Poison gas!" Kirana coughed.

Kirana, Ariana, Camilla, Ezra, and Talia began coughing on the gas as they began to lose consciousness and fell to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ezra woke up and groaned as he sat up. He saw that he and his older sisters were trapped in a large glass tank inside a large room with the Kraang aliens everywhere where the entire room was full of toxic gas.

"Girls, get up! We're in their lair!" Ezra said as he tried to wake up his sisters.

Ezra quickly used his electricity powers to wake them up.

"Wake up!" Ezra shouted.

The mage kunoichis woke up and groaned.

"Is everyone okay?" Kirana asked.

"We're good." Camilla and Talia replied.

"Uh, guys, we have a problem." Ariana said as she pointed her index finger in front of her.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra followed Ariana's finger and they all stared at a large platform surrounded by three white giant cannon-shaped construction.

"I'm guessing that would be the portal." Ezra said.

"Okay, we need to get out of here and destroy the portal now." Kirana said.

"And exactly how are we supposed to that?" Camilla questioned. "Because if I remember correctly, we're stuck in here and the place is filled with poison gas out there."

"Even if it's poison, how can they breathe that?" Ezra asked, staring at the hovering Kraang through the glass.

"It's possible that the toxic gas is the same type of air from Dimension X." Ariana explained theoretically.

"But why would the Kraang invade a planet they can't breathe on?" Camilla wondered.

"Oh pul-lease! They can't do a thing about it." Talia said. "I mean, it's not like they can mutate the entire planet that they lived on. Not to mention, destroying all life as we know it."

Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla stared at Talia with surprised faces as if they have never hear their sister say something scientific with rare intelligence.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Talia's right." Ariana said. "It was the Kraang's plans from the very beginning."

"And we have to stop them." Kirana added. "But how?"

"Talia you can create an air bubble to protect us from the toxic gas." Ariana asked Talia.

"Well, we better do it fast because the Kraang are starting the portal right now." Talia said.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked to see the Kraang were powering up the portal. They watched the energy coming from the power cell charging the cannons as the portal was about to open.

"Oh, snap." Camilla said.

"Okay, let's move." Kirana ordered.

Camilla slammed her fist to break the glass and Talia quickly created a large air bubble to protect herself and her siblings from the gas releasing inside the tank. Talia directed the air bubble out of the tank, leaving her siblings blasting a squad of the piloting Kraang aliens with their magic. With a swipe of her hand, Talia unleashed an enormous tornado that hit the cracked window with great force. The cracked window shattered the glass into various pieces, blowing the toxic gas out the entire room that allowed the K-5 to breathe again.

Suddenly, the K-5 turned around to the operational portal and they watched the giant cannons firing neon pink beams of energy from the power cell. They also saw something pulling through the portal from Dimension X.

As the light from the portal went out, a giant white golem made of icy rock came out through the portal as he stood at his full height that made the K-5 frighten.

"O.M.G!" Talia gasped.

"An entity made of living icy rock?" Ariana breathed. "Truly fascinating. I definitely need to study him."

"Not now, Ariana." Camilla said with a deadpan look.

The white golem creature began charging towards the K-5 with a roar.

"Scatter!" Kirana ordered.

The K-5 moved out of the way when the icy golem was crushing under his foot at his sight.

Ariana raced around behind the icy golem and leaped up in the air to create a number of earth spikes that erupted out of the ground to immobilize the giant creature, but the icy golem broke out of the spikes and smacked Ariana hard to the wall. Kirana summoned a stream of big water bubbles from her hands that hit the giant creature at great force, but the icy golem slammed his fist down on the Kirana that unleashed a large shockwave to send her flying onto Ariana. Camilla fired multiple fiery, curved red beams separately towards the giant creature that hit him with large explosions while Talia created several blades of wind that attacked the giant creature from the opposite side. But the white golem caught the mages in his hands and crushed them tightly before throwing them away that send them flying into Kirana and Ariana. Ezra performed rapid kicks at the giant creature's face and shot two lightning strikes at the eyes. But the white golem slapped Ezra to his sisters.

Ariana, Kirana, Ezra, Camilla, and Talia groaned painfully in their beaten and bruised state as they knew that the white golem's enhance strength overpowered them. As the giant white golem moved closer to finish the mages off, the sound of the elevator caught everyone's attention as Mala stood her feet over a few destroyed Kraang droids lying on the floor.

"Mala!" Talia exclaimed happily.

"Hey, Granitor!" Mala hissed. "Remember me? You and I have some unfinished business!"

The white golem known as Granitor turned around to face Mala, who used her claws to slash him to the ground with an impressive strength.

As Granitor falls onto his back to the floor, Mala propelled herself forward with both claws sticking out while spinning like a drill to attack the white golem's chest.

"Mala, you have to get him to the portal!" Ariana called.

Mala understood and tossed Granitor onto the portal platform, allowing the K-5 to use their elemental magic to attack him with everything they got. But once again, Granitor was still completely unharmed. To make matters worse, the sound of the portal began powering up out of the siblings' sight.

"What the?" Kirana gasped in shock.

"Our powers have no effect on that thing!" Talia exclaimed. "And the portal is opening again!"

"What do we do now?" Ariana asked. "Bceause I'm completely out of ideas here."

"Normally, I could punch that freak a couple times, but I don't think that's gonna work." Camilla said.

"Afraid we can't do anything now! Look alive!" Ezra shouted.

Everyone saw Granitor was trying to get on his feet as a swirly bubble of pinkish-purple and blue energy appeared in the middle of the machine behind him.

"Someone is coming through the portal!" Talia said cautiously.

"Not if I can help it!" Mala hissed as she grabbed Granitor's neck and dragged him towards the portal.

"No, Mala! Don't do this!" Ezra cried.

"I'm sorry, but there's no other choice. Farewell, my friends." Mala grinned softly.

Mala passed through the portal into Dimension X as the K-5 watched the potral closed itself right before their eyes.

Suddenly, a large squad of Kraang droids came storming into the room that caught the mages' attention and began firing neon pink energy lasers at the K-5. Kirana immediately formed a barrier of water that surrounded herself and her siblings to protect themselves from the Kraang.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Kirana said to her siblings.

"We can't just leave!" Ariana protested. "Espcially with portal operating in the heads of the Kraang!"

"Sorry, Ariana, but we don't have a choice." Kirana said. "Camilla, Talia, get us out of here!"

"On it!" Camilla and Talia said quickly.

Ezra spotted the power cell in a container and gave a determined look.

"Girls, I need you to hold them off. I'll be back." Ezra told his sisters.

Ezra quickly ran to the power cell.

"Ezra!" Talia shouted.

Ezra quickly grabbed the power cell and ran back to his sisters.

"Now!" Ezra said.

Camilla and Talia began concentrating on their magical powers as they created a large red-orange bubble that encompassed the K-5 and formed itself into a giant Chinese dragon. The dragon flew up through the broken window to take the mages back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 walked into the living room with sad faces as Sage, Casey, and Norbit were waiting for them.

"Hello everyone." Norbit greeted.

"Sup, guys." Casey said with a grin.

"Was the mission successful, my children?" Sage asked.

Kirana, Camilla, and Talia sat down on the couch while Ariana stared at the ground with Casey placing his hand on her shoulder. Norbit hugged Ezra as he looked down in sadness.

"Afraid not, mother. Mala's gone." Kirana reported.

"We did get the power cell back though. She would've wanted us to retrieve it." Ezra sighed.

"But she saved our lives." Talia said as she pullled out a strange black flash drive from her waist belt. "Also, I've found this during our fight with the Kraang."

Camilla and Ariana stared at the black flash device, but Ariana was completey inserted in the device.

"Is that a flash drive?" Camilla asked.

"It's a Kraang data storage flash drive!" Ariana gasped. "If I can decode it, it could help us find a way to stop them! I'll be back!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ariana went to work in her lab, Casey went back home to his family while Sage, her three daughters, and her son were relaxing on the couch. Norbit powered down in his charging station to deactivate.

"This doesn't make sense." Talia said. "If The Kraang want to terraform the earth, what do they need the scientists for?"

"Well they do study the meaning of science, Talia." Kirana replied.

"Yeah, but there's no way the scientists will study the Kraang's advanced technology." Talia said.

"Shockingly, she speaks the truth." Sage said.

"Well, that's a little strange." Ezra commented.

"But if they didn't need the scientists, why were they after them in the first place?" Camilla questioned.

That's when Ariana walked out from her lab.

"But that's the reason. They're not." Ariana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, everyone gathered around Ariana inside the lab as she was typing on the buttons on her supercomputer.

"I was able to use the Kraang processor with Phantom's help to decode the storage drive." Ariana explained. "Despite many corrupted files, I was able to find their true target."

As Ariana clicked a button on the keyboard, the screen was filled with pictures and information on the Kraang's true target: April, a turquoise masked turtle kunoichi, a little girl, and the K-5.

"No...way!" Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra gasped in shock.

"They're after April, her little sister, a mutant girl, and us." Ariana said with a worried face.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

In the Crete Fortress, Talia was bouncing on her seat as the amazing smell of the ramen drifting through into her nose inside the kitchen.

"Hurry up, Kirana!" Talia whined impatiently. "I'm starving here!"

"Chill down, Talia." Kirana said.

Kirana scooped some noodles into two bowls and walked over to the dining table, where Talia was waiting excitedly and Camilla were already eating while staring down at her comic book. Ezra was listening to music on his K-Phone while eating.

"Happy now?" Kirana smiled.

"Uh yeah!" Talia replied. "I love ramen soup besides pizza!"

As four mages began slurping their noodles, a green lizard with silver camera attached to its body was crawling onto the table from the counter. Kirana looked down to stare at the small lizard confusedly. Talia cocked her head to look down at the lizard with ramen hanging out of her mouth. Both girls watched as the lizard moved over to Camilla. As Camilla was about to put some ramen noodle in her mouth, she stopped to stare at the lizard casually sitting on her fork.

"What the heck?" Camilla screamed as she jumped back to fling the lizard back to the counter. "It's lizard!"

Ezra immediately got startled and removed his earbuds to watch Camilla in fright of a lizard.

Camilla stared at the lizard with wide eyes and slowly engulfed her fists into blazing flames. Kirana, Talia, and Ezra pulled their ramen noodles off the table, moving away from the table as they knew exactly what Camilla was going to do. Camilla began firing small-sized fireballs wildly at the lizard, who started to scurry off the table as Camilla kept missing to strike the creature.

Ariana suddenly rushed in with a tablet in her hand. She puts her device on the table and held her hand to the floor for the lizard to crawl into her palms.

"Stop, Camilla! You can't burn it!" Ariana shouted.

"And why not?" Camilla snapped as she ran up to Ariana.

"Because this lizard is important for our mission, okay?" Ariana replied, covering the lizard protectively and opened her hand to pat it.

"And why is he important to our mission, Ariana?" Ezra sighed.

"Because I outfitted him with a remote controlled camera helmet!" Ariana replied with a proud smile. "That way we can send him to spy on the Kraang into TCRI. The camera itself allows us to see whatever the lizard sees."

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra gathered Ariana's tablet as Ariana played back a recording of Camilla screaming at the sight of the lizard. Camilla was glaring at the screen, Kirana and Ariana were laughing silently, Ezra silently chuckled, and Talia laughed openly.

"This is too good! Who knew big, tough Camilla is scared of lizards." Talia exclaimed.

"I do not!" Camilla protested.

"Is that so?" Talia said, rewinding the recording the video and paused the video that showed Camilla's screaming face. "Because this proves us all."

"Wanna see what I can also prove?" Camilla asked.

Camilla seized Talia by the arms and threw her over the counter.

"We're gonna spy on the Kraang...with a lizard!" Ariana declared, holding the lizard in the air proudly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A hour later, the K-5 gathered together in the Sonicruiser that was parked nearby TCRI building. They assembled around Ariana's station as they watched the lizard's progress on the screen. The lizard used a mini saw attached to its tail and crawled inside a room, where a bunch of blue Kraang droids were having a conservation about their robotic bodies. The lizard moved on until it crawled onto a beam and looked down at two other Kraang droids, allowing the screen to feature a laser drill for the mages to see back at the Sonicruiser.

"Wait a minute." Kirana said suddenly. "Ariana, can you get the lizard closer?"

Ariana nodded as she directed the lizard to move closer and zoomed the camera in.

"That which is known as the next phase of the Kraang invasion to the planet known as earth will soon begin." One Kraang droid explained. "That which is the laser drill will drill a hole in the planet known as earth. That is a hole that is thirty miles deep in the earth. To execute the plan, Kraang needs to be possessing that which is known as the diamond lens to make work the drilling of the laser drill. Kraang is already on the way to that which is called the laboratory that is having the lens that is needed by Kraang."

"They're gonna drill a hole onto earth?!" Ezra said in shock.

"Woah." Camilla said.

"Okay, that doesn't sound good." Talia said.

"We have to stop them." Kirana said firmly.

"Spyzard, return to the Sonicruiser at once." Ariana ordered. She turned off the camera and pulled up picture of a laser drill on the screen to her siblings. "Here's what we need to know."

With a nod, Spyzard slithered his way out of the Kraang hideout. But he suddenly went hurtling off the beam and fell straight down into a large vat of mutagen that started mutating him into a large monster. In quick seconds, Spyzard managed to defeat the Kraang droids and took his leave to the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 got to their stations and the Sonicruiser started driving to the streets until the vehicle suddenly went over a large bump that made Ariana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra bump off their seats while Kirana stopped the vehicle.

"What the heck was that?" Talia asked in shock.

"I'll check it out." Ezra said.

He peeked at the bump outside the Sonicruiser and widened his eyes.

"Girls, you might wanna look at this." Ezra said.

The K-5 climbed out of the Sonicruiser and they ran over to see a large lizard creature on the ground in the alleyway. Ariana knelt in front of the creature and examined it closely while her siblings stood behind her.

"Okay, that's gross." Kirana said in disgust.

Camilla gasped sharply and passed out to the ground.

"Camilla!" Ezra shouted in worry.

"Camilla, you okay?" Talia said, turning back to her unconscious sister.

"Oh my. I can't believe what I'm seeing." Ariana said, looking at the cybernetic armor attached to the creature's arms and legs. "It's my Spyzard!"

"Say what?!" Camilla shouted as she immediately got back up on her feet from the ground.

"It got exposed to the mutagen inside TCRI!" Ariana explained with wide eyes as she continued examining her mutated Spyzard. "The equpiment attached to him have incredibly merged with his exoskeleton."

"Well peace out!" Camilla said quickly. "I'm outta here!"

Camilla started running back to the Sonicruiser, but Talia summoned a concentrated rope made of wind energy and wrapped it around Camilla that pulled her older sister back to the group.

"Oh, calm down, Camilla." Talia said. "The creature is toast anywat. Besides, it's not like its gonna get up and come after us."

"Uh, guys?" Ariana exclaimed.

Kirana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla turned around to see Spyzard got up and pinned Ariana to the ground with one claw. Spyzard's blue spy eyes stared at the other mages, but he got his eyes on the frozen Camilla. Spyzard tossed Ariana aside and began stalking towards the other mages. Kirana and Talia ran forward, leaving Ezra and Camilla standing in their position until Camilla quickly ran for weapons into the Sonicruiser.

"Get outta here!" Ezra shouted.

He threw an empty bottle at Spyzard, but the bottle didn't hit him hard and made him growl at Ezra.

"Uh-oh." Ezra said.

Kirana, Ariana, and Talia jumped to attack Spyzard with their elemental magic, but Spyzard continued to walk forward to get to Camilla. Ezra glared at Spyzard and joined his sisters to hold him off.

"This lizard's tough!" Kirana exclaimed.

"Okay, we seriously need some help!" Talia shouted.

"But where's Camilla?" Ariana asked.

"Camilla! Help us out here!" Ezra shouted.

Suddenly, Camilla came out sitting on a chair with a shoulder-mounted blast cannon.

"Take this, freak!" Camilla shouted with a glare.

Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra dodged out of the way before Camilla fired an enormous light blue energy beam directly at Spyzard that sent him flying to the dead end wall and fell to the ground unconsciously.

"Nice job, Camilla." Kirana said as she walked back to the Sonicruiser with Ariana. "Now, we have to stop the Kraang from getting those diamonds."

"Kirana's right. We gonna move." Camilla said as she got off from the chair and followed her siblings.

"Oh, come on." Talia smileed, pointing an accusing finger at Camilla. "You're just saying that because you want to get away from that lizard."

"How wrong can you get?" Camilla snapped. She pushed Talia into the Sonicruiser. "Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the streets, Kirana was driving the Sonicruiser and then stopped the vehicle to see the Kraang droids loading a case into one of their white vans on the screens.

"There's the Kraang!" Ariana exclaimed.

"They're picking up the lens for their drill!" Ezra said.

"Ram it, Kirana!" Camilla shouted.

Kirana hit the pedal with her boot and the Sonicruiser drove fast towards the Kraang's van. The Kraang droids crawled from the van and found themselves facing with four mage kunoichis and mage ninja. Camilla got the case containing the diamond lens in her hands.

"I got the lens!" Camilla shouted as she came up to her siblings.

"Camilla, take it to the Sonicruiser! We'll handle the Kraang!" Kirana ordered.

Suddenly, Spyzard landed on top of the overturned van and the Kraang droids began firing their weapons at the giant lizard mutant. Spyzard cracked his neck and started delivering swift slashes at every Kraang droids at sight. After that was over, Spyzard jumped down from the van and turned to the K-5 as he saw Camilla jumped behind her siblings.

"Talia, Ariana, Ezra, you take the lizard." Kirana said. "Camilla and I will take the lens to the Sonicruiser."

"Um, bad news, Camilla's in shock mode right now." Ariana said as she glanced at her older sister behind her.

Kirana, Talia, and Ezra glanced around quickly to see Camilla standing in fear with the case in her hands.

"Okay, I'll carry her to the Sonicruiser." Kirana said.

Kirana began dragging up Camilla in her arms and started running back towards the Sonicruiser, unaware that Camilla have dropped the case on the ground. That made one Kraang droid picking up the case and headed back to the van. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra began fighting against Spyzard, but the giant lizard mutant was proven to be strong for them to handle. Talia was able to fire several blades of wind that moved Spyzard to the street road, where the giant lizard mutant immediately got hit by an incoming truck and carried him away out of nowhere. The driver started to panic at the sight of the Spyzard and jumped off, leaving the truck to crash into a wall and exploded with Spyzard. Then; Ariana, Talia, and Ezra spotted the Kraang droid carrying the case jumping inside the van and the vehicle took off.

"The Kraang got the lens again!" Ezra exclaimed as he, Ariana, and Talia ran back to their older sisters.

"That's because Camilla lost it." Kirana said.

"Hey, I know it's my fault that I can't face the lizard on my own, Ms. Fearless Leader!" Camilla snapped defensively.

"Look, I understand you fear of lizards is blocking your fighting spirit, but you have to find a way to conquer that fear so you can move on." Kirana said softly.

Camilla turned away at Kirana's words, knowing that her older sisters has a point.

"Now, come on. We gotta find the drill before the Kraang starts it up." Kirana ordered.

Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla followed Kirana into the Sonicruiser as they took off to the streets. Unware of the siblings, Spyzard was walking past out of the flaming fire and continued to pursue Camilla.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the Sonicrusier, the K-5 became silent for what happened to Camilla until Ariana broke the silence.

"I have located all known Kraang facilities and the fault lines in New York City on the map." Ariana said as she showed a map on the screen to her siblings. She then pulled up two highlighted crisscrossed fault lines on the screen."If the Kraang are gonna drill into the earth's crust, then this is where they'd do it."

"Alright then. We've got a little more time left before the Kraang start drilling." Kirana said.

Suddenly, something bumped the vehicle that made the mages cautious upon that.

"What was that?" Ezra asked.

"I'll check to see what's outiside." Ariana said. She looked back at the screen to see something with wide eyes. "Uh guys, Spyzard's back."

"What?" Camilla screamed. She jumped out of her seat and glanced around frantically until she quickly jumped onto Ariana's arms. "He's here! He's underneath the vehicle!"

Suddenly, Spyzard crawled under the vehicle and slashed the drive shaft that caused to the Sonicruiser skid to a stop.

"He cut the drive shaft!" Camilla shouted in shock.

Ariana tossed Camilla back to her station's seat.

"Okay, how does that freak keep finding us?" Kirana cried in frustration.

"Well, I did put a homing signal, so Spyzard could come back to the vehicle." Ariana explained.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ezra shouted as he, Kirana, Camilla, and Talia surrounded Ariana in her station. "What the heck, Ariana!?"

"Yeah, even I would've turned that off." Talia remarked.

"Sorry, I don't think it'll be a big of a deal." Ariana snapped. She started clacking her rapid fingers on her keyboard. "But I could tap into his camera to see what he's seeing."

"Then, we can see why he's so mad at us." Camilla said as she stood behind her sisters.

"Got it." Ariana said.

Ariana clicked the last button and a video of Camilla trying to burn the lizard with her magic was playing over and over again on the screen.

"That explains...so much." Camilla said slowly with a deadpan look.

"So, all this whole time he was only mad at you?" Ezra said to Camilla.

"Ha, that must be terrifying for a girl who's afraid of lizards." Talia teased with a grin.

"Shut up, Talia!" Camilla snapped with a glare. "It's not like the lizard got more surprises up in his sleeves."

Suddenly, a buzzsaw cut through the floor of the Sonicruiser exactly where Camilla was standing on. That surprise made Ezra yelp and jump back.

"I could be wrong!" Camilla screamed.

Kirana pushed Camilla aside and sliced the buzzsaw with a katana sword made out of water.

"Gross!" Ezra exclaimed after the saw was cut off.

"It has been decied!" Kirana said to Ariana. "Ariana, fix the vehicle fast while the rest of us will keep the lizard busy from our mission."

"We will?" Camilla asked in confusion.

"Yes, Camilla!" Ezra shouted as Kirana grabbed Camilla by the leotard.

Kirana, Talia, and Ezra headed out of the Sonicruiser as they dragged Camilla along with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Camilla gripped Talia's neck hard with both hands as she was picked up in her youngest sister's arms and glanced around the alleyway anxiously.

"Hey Spyzard!" Kirana called out. "We have Camilla! Come and get her!"

"Are you serious? You're using me as bait?" Camilla exclaimed.

"Yep." Kirana replied.

Suddenly, Spyzard came out from underneath the Sonicruiser and began stalking towards the mages with blue narrow eyes. Kirana, Talia, and Ezra ran away to turn the corner with Camilla screaming all the way. Spyzard turned the corner and found Camilla yelling in alarm. As Spyzard began approaching Camilla, the other three mages were able to seize the mutant lizard with magic chains. But the two mage kunoichis and mage ninja got knocked back to the wall in seconds.

Camilla turned around and ran away from Spyzard while screaming in terror. She kept trying to fire several flaming blasts at Spyzard, who was too strong to be burn by Camilla's fire magic. She made a turn to a dead end and looked around for a way to escape, but she immediately got down on her knees and closed her eyes in fear when she heard a sound that presumed that Spyzard is coming behind her.

"Okay, I'm sorry for trying to burn you!" Camilla apologized quickly. "I'll never be cruel again, just leave me alone!"

"Under one condition." A familiar voice spoke in a low voice. "Be good to Talia and be nice to her for the rest of your life."

Camilla's eyes widened wide as she quickly realized who that voice belongs to. She turned around to see the voice was her youngest sister. She also saw Ezra holding in his laughter but snickers through the whole scene.

"Talia!" Camilla yelled angrily.

Camilla kicked Talia hard in the butt and the two siblings instantly took shelter behind Kirana, who was stopping Camilla from attacking Talia again.

"Ow!" Talia said sulkily. "Can't take a joke once in a while."

"Good work, Camilla." Kirana complimented with a grin.

"What's are you talking about?" Camilla snapped. "Where's the lizard?"

Ezra pointed his thumb over his shoulder, where the siblings could see the mutant lizard was encased in strong cement. Camilla smiled confidently as she was poking her finger to its head, making the hollow Spyzard statue to crumble into a dust with one touch.

"What the heck?" Camilla said with a confused eyebrow.

"Looks like he shed." Ezra said.

"They shed?" Camilla asked.

"Yeah, lizards shed their skins." Kirana explained. She then glanced around in fear. "To...only...get stronger."

"O.M.G." Talia said, looking at what Kirana's staring in fear.

"This couldn't get any worse." Ezra said.

Camilla spun around to see Spyzard in his new form. His skin became white scaly and huge cybernetic arms.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra turned around to run fast for the Sonicruiser as Spyzard was chasing after them with fast speed. The mages finally made it back to the Sonicruiser and hopped into the vehicle.

"Ariana, you get this vehicle working yet?" Kirana asked, jumping into the driver's seat.

"Yeah, we gotta go now!" Ariana said from the back of the vehicle. "The Kraang are powering up the drill!"

Kirana started the engine and drove the Sonicruiser to the Kraang facility, but Spyzard was moving across the rooftops to catch up to the vehicle. Camilla saw Spyzard from the screen and began firing light green energy blasts from the vehicle, but Spyzard was too fast to be hit by the energy blasts one by one.

"Are you kidding me?" Camilla snapped. She puts on her determined face and got up from her station. "I'm going after him!"

"Camilla, you don't have to do this." Kirana protested.

"That's why I have to do it." Camilla admitted as she opened the hatch to the motorcycle. "You said it yourself. I have to conquer this fear, so I can move on."

Camilla jumped in and closed the hatch as she sat on a black futuristic two-wheeled motorcycle. Kirana pressed a glowing green button to eject the motorcycle and drove off the to the Kraang facility, leaving Camilla behind with the large mutant lizard. As Spyzard stopped running, Camilla started shooting a barrage of rapid missiles that hit Spyzard in every direction.

"Hey, Spyzard!" Camilla shouted. "Catch me if you can!"

Camilla revved her motorcycle and drove off to the Sonicruiser's direction as Spyzard got up and pursued after Camilla.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the Sonicruiser raced towards the Kraang facility with the laser drill. But the Kraang droids were guarding the gates that were slowly closing itself to prevent the vehicle from getting inside.

"Get ready, guys!" Kirana said. "We're going in!"

The Kraang droids began firing neon pink energy lasers that have no effect against the Soncruiser. As the Sonicruiser got crashed halfway through the gates, the Kraang droids got rammed painfully to the ground by the vehicle. But unfortunately, the Sonicruiser got itself stuck in between the metal gates with the rest of the Kraang droids started shooting at the vehicle.

"Oh, we're in trouble!" Ezra exclaimed. "We can't get through!"

"Camilla, we're stuck and we can't get pass! Get the drill!" Kirana ordered through her K-Phone.

"On my way!" Camilla said from Kirana's K-Phone.

Outside, Camilla was revving her motorcycle and drove into the Kraang facility, where she parked her motorcycle near the Sonicruiser and jumped onto the powered drill. She looked up to see Spyzard standing on the drill towards her. With a smirk on her face, Camilla unleashed a sudden barrage of fireballs in high and low directions that hit Spyzard at sight. But before Spyzard can attack with his claws, Camilla delivered a barrage of vertial spinning flaming kicks while rising in the air that knocked the giant mutant lizard with each hit of the sweep kick barrage before jamming her boot to Spyzard's back and fell down to slam him violently onto the ground with an axe kick, causing Spyzard to explode into a pile of goo on the ground. Then, Camilla sprang in the air with a twisting reverse backflip and swiftly launched a giant flaming wave that surged across the field, destroying the drill into a large metallic liquid pool in the process.

After defeating the firing Kraang droids that were coming in her way, Camilla got on her motorcycle and used her magic to release the Sonicrusier from the metal gates. Camilla revved her engines and began following after the escaping Sonicruiser away from the Kraang facility.

Unaware to the mages, a new baby lizard started forming from the goo on the ground and screeched loud for revenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 were relaxing themselves in the living room. Camilla was punching the training dummy, Ariana was drawing on her sketchbook, Ezra was on his phone, Kirana was watching TV with the remote, and Talia was playing her orange handheld game console.

"Camilla, you faced your fear and saved the city." Kirana said with a bright smile. "I'm proud of you, sis."

"Oh please. I conquered my fear, baby!" Camilla scoffed with a smile. "I zapped my fear all the way to oblivion!"

"Applause to the drama queen who conquered her fear." Ezra smiled.

"So, does that mean you're not afraid of lizards anymore?" Talia asked.

"Nope." Camilla said with a smirk. "Not one bit."

"Okay." Talia mused. "So, that means you don't mind the one I just slipped into your shirt."

Camilla's eyes went wide. She began screaming frantically and running off around the living room, making her siblings laugh in amuse.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

The K-5 stood on a building rooftop under the night sky as they watched the Kraang loading up a new weapon into their van from above.

"Well, there it is!" Ariana exclaimed as she was looking through her binoculars. "The sub-spacial endopartical disrupter!"

"Is that really good or really bad?" Kirana asked.

"It's definitely really bad, especially in the hands of the Kraang." Ariana replied as she turned back to her siblings.

"That sums it." Ezra said.

"So, what does it do exactly?" Talia asked.

"The disrupter can desynchronize subatomic resonances which invert polymolecular structures causing them to implode." Ariana explained.

Talia cocked her head with deep confusion.

"Huh?" Ezra questioned.

"Translation: it can make things go boom like a dynamite." Camilla said bluntly.

"Technically, it's more like this." Ariana corrected. "Shweee! Shoooooo! Pop!"

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra stared at Ariana in bewilderment.

"It's important to be accurate with very advanced weapons." Ariana stated with a smile.

On the other building, Donna was observing the device through her binoculars with Inque and Masque behind her.

"With that endoparticle disrupter in the hands of the Shadow Clan, we'll be truly unstoppable." Donna said. "We'll move on my signal."

"Uh, excuse me? On your signal?" Inque said threateningly. She quickly lashed her right arm around Donna and squeezed her tightly in place. "Listen and listen good. You do what we say and we won't end your life quickly."

"Keep acting like you're the boss of us and I'll finish your heart myself." Masque added with a dangerous grin.

Inque tossed Donna away to the doorway and moved towards the edge of the rooftop with Masque at her side.

"Just you wait, freaks." Donna muttered under her breath.

The K-5 and the Shadow Clan warriors crouched on the edge of the rooftop in a line. They jumped down from the rooftop and landed on the street ground at the very same time. They suddenly stared at each other with equal surprise, ignoring the Kraang looking at both teams.

"You have got to be kidding me." Talia said.

"Awkward." Ezra said.

"Kraang? Masque? Inque?" Camilla grinned. "Now, this is gonna be fun!"

Inque and Masque charged forward to strike while the Kraang droids began firing neon pink energy blasts from their laser guns. The K-5 are now forced to deal with both the Kraang and the Shadow mystic mutants. Inque and Masque were taking down the Kraang droids while attacking the K-5 at the same time. Kirana was occupied with Inque and Camilla was occupied with Masque, leaving Talia, Ezra, and Ariana occupied with the Kraang droids. From above, Donna stood on the top of the building to watch the fight to her amusement. Ariana instantly heard the whirring sound that caught her attention and spun around to see one Kraang droid powering up the disrupter in its hands. Her eyes widened wide when she saw the Kraang droid pointing it directly at Talia.

"Talia, look out!" Ariana shouted.

Talia turned around and the Kraang droid shot the energy beam at her. Ariana and Ezra quickly shoved their sister to the ground, making the energy beam hit a car instead. The beam made the car shrink smaller and disappeared in a pop.

"Whoa!" Talia exclaimed as she looked at Ariana. "You were so not kidding about the weapon, Ariana."

As the Kraang quickly shut the van and drove away with the disrupter, the loud sound of police sirens caught everyone else's attention. Inque immediately slithered away back to the building where Donna was standing.

"Guys, the cops are coming!" Kirana said in alert. "We gotta move!"

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra sprang back to the building rooftop, but Kirana turned to see Camilla and Masque still locked in a vicious combat.

"Camilla, let's go!" Kirana snapped.

Masque and Camilla stepped back to stare at each other while breathing heavily.

"This isn't over. Not by a long shot." Masque smirked.

"You're welcome to finish what we've started the next time we meet." Camilla smirked back.

The K-5 left out of sight from the rooftop while Inque and Masque grabbed Donna's arms to head back to the headquarters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the K-5 knelt down on their knees in the middle of the dojo. Ariana narrowed his eyes in anticipation when Sage moved behind her and lifted a wooden sword above with one hand. Ariana was about to summon her earth magic, but Sage swung her sword down to her head that gave the purple mage a painful blow.

"Dang it." Ariana groaned as she was rubbing her head with her right hand.

Sage moved on to Talia and lifted the wooden sword, making the orange mage flinch forward and summoned a force field made out of air above her. Talia glanced behind anxiously and noticed that her mother hasn't made her move yet. Talia let out a relived grin, but she got whacked sharply by the wooden sword on top of her head past the air force field.

"No fair." Talia whined as she was rubbing her head with her left hand.

Sage moved on to Ezra and lifted the wooden sword. Ezra was about to use his lighting but the wooden sword hit the teal mage ninja's head to give him a blow.

"Ow! Man." Ezra groaned.

Sage moved over to Camilla, who didn't move a muscle from her position. Camilla glanced behind with tense shoulders, but the wooden sword swung down to her head before the red mage had the chance to channel her fire magic.

"Ow!" Camilla growled.

Sage moved on to Kirana, who was completely relaxed the whole time. Sage lifted the wooden sword and swung it down to her eldest daughter, but Kirana swiftly stepped forward and flipped in the air to land on her feet in front of her family.

"Bullseye!" Kirana smiled happily. "My aura sense has really paid off."

"What is the exact point of this training anyway, mother?" Camilla asked Sage.

"To learn the ability to sense your enemy's intentions when you're unable to see their moves." Sage explained.

"Taking me down is my enemy's intention." Camilla protested.

"But you have to know that your enemy will strike in due time." Sage said wisely. "You must sense when that enemy will strike can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

"Hai, mother." Camilla said as she looked down at the floor.

The K-5 bowed as Sage exited the dojo to her room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Shadow Clan HQ, Lady Shade looked down at her three henchwomen kneeling down on the floor with one knee from her throne chair.

"We almost had the alien technology in our grasp, mistress." Inque reported.

"But Donna's plan have proven to be unfortunate to obtain it." Masque added.

Donna looked down to the floor with a hidden glare on her face before looking up at Lady Shade.

"Is this true?" Lady Shade asked.

"Yes, they're right. It was my fault." Donna said innocently as she was unaware of the surprising faces coming from Inque and Masque. "But I like to make it up for my flawed plans. I have designed a definite foolproof trap for the K-5. Of course, I need the help of Inque and Masque to lure them into it."

"Very well." Shade said calmly. "Do as you wish."

Donna glanced sideways with a devilish grin at Inque and Masque.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 leapt across the rooftops on a lookout for the Kraang.

"Hey, guys!" Ariana called as she stopped on a rooftop and looked down to the street. "Look who's here."

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra came over to Ariana as they saw two mage mutants standing next to the streetlights.

"Inque? Masque? What are they doing here?" Talia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not sure, but something doesn't feel right." Ezra responded.

"You said it, but we have to proceed with caution." Kirana said.

Kirana's eyes widened when she quickly turned around and looked over to see her younger siblings fighting the mage mutants down below.

"Sometimes I wished I was the only child." Kirana scowled.

Kirana leapt down into the street ground and joined the fight with her siblings. Inque's unexpected sloppy moves allowed Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra knocked her down next to Masque, who was taken down easily by Camilla. The K-5 began approaching to the mage mutants, but Inque and Masque got up from the ground as they ran away from the mage kunoichis and mage ninja.

"Uh, they're getting away!" Ezra said.

"Oh, no, they don't!" Camilla said as she went after the mage mutants.

"Camilla, hold up!" Kirana warned. "Ezra has a point! Something's not right here!"

"That's your aura sense messing up your head!" Camilla retorted. "We can't let them get away!"

Kirana, Talia, Ezra, and Ariana rolled their eyes with heavy sigh as they chased after Camilla.

In quick minutes, the K-5 tracked Masque and Inque all the way to an empty warehouse. The four mage kunoichis and mage ninja searched warily inside the place until they halted themselves and detected the mage mutants emerging from the shadows.

"Okay, alright, you got us." Inque said. "Uncooperative."

"Huh?" Talia said as she cocked her head in deep confusion.

"Really? That's it?" Ariana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something's wrong." Kirana said uncertainly. She can feel something uneasy with her aura sense around the area.

"This is way too easy, even for them." Ezra said.

"Can you please worrying for one minute?" Camilla snapped.

Suddenly, a number of automated laser guns popped up around the room from the ceiling. Red lasers came raining down on the K-5 and suddenly the Shadow Clan warriors.

"Never mind." Camilla said weakly.

Then, everyone collapsed to the floor unconsciously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Casey was training with Sage in the fortress dojo. Casey moved around the dojo with his skates and swung his hockey stick towards Sage, who was dodging with amazing speed and blasting out white energy magic for the human vigilante to avoid. Casey's fighting skills may allow him to hold his own against her opponent, but Sage disappeared out of sight and reappeared behind to trip Casey to the floor with a swipe of her left leg.

"Wow, they don't call you the White Mage for nothing, Sage." Casey said with a smile as he got up from the floor and put his hockey stick away. "But when are you gonna tell me about your life in Japan?"

"I'm not sure if you're even interested about my history, Casey." Sage stated.

"Now unless it involves wicked cool magic dudes and dudettes." Casey grinned.

Sage thought for a moment and made her decision.

"Alright, I'll tell my whole story." Saldana replied. "What about you, Norbit?"

"A story would be delightful to open emotions." Norbit said. "I would like to listen to the story."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 and the Shadow Clan warriors woke up to find themselves into an illuminating stage, where the floor and background has decorative colorful checkered neon lights from their very eyes.

"Huh? Where the heck are we?" Talia wondered.

"Welcome, ladies and gentleman!" A familiar female voice announced. "I'm so glad to see you're here to meet your doom!"

"Donna?" Ezra exclaimed in surprise.

"The one and only!" Donna replied.

"What's the meaning of this?" Masque snapped furiously. "You supposed to set a trap for the K-5, not us included!"

"Don't even try sassing me now, Masque!" Donna growled. "I'm sick and tired of you mutant freaks threaten me like dirt, especially when you two blamed me for not following my plan in the first place!"

"Ouch." Camilla smirked.

"You traitor!" Inque shouted.

"Good luck telling Lady Shade that when you all trapped inside my supercomputer!" Donna shouted.

"Supercomputer?" Ariana echoed.

"That's right!" Donna said with a laugh. "I was able to use my magic mixed with half of Kraang technology to build a virtual reality world that I like to call NanoChrome. Now, let's see if you can survive the first challenge! And there will be a surprise boss battle for Ezra, himself!"

Ezra widened his eyes in shock as he heard that. He looked at his sisters who gave him a nod and smiled at them.

Everyone looked up to see seven spherical mech flying down to their position. The mechs have faces that included two red eyes with black sclera and a serrated mouth with a dark red glow within. They suddenly shot out dark red energy blasts down at the mystics, causing them to scramble out of the way. The K-5 blasted their elemental magic to destroy the five mechs at their sights, leaving Inque and Masque destroying the last two with their magic.

"You may destroyed my mechs." Donna cackled. "But there are more in store for you all!"

With that, the entire stage disappeared around the mages. They all went falling down into an endless black space while screaming in terror.

After few seconds of screaming, they landed on the ground and quickly got up to look around the next stage. The entire stage was an underwater playground surrounded by blue seas encased in clear glass, where the mages are getting up inside a winding tube that leads to the exit up ahead.

"Great. Now, where were we?" Inque growled.

"Don't know, but love the view." Masque replied as she looked at the spectacular view of the aquatic water.

Kirana noticed something inside the tube with her aura sense.

"Hey, guys." Kirana called out. "We have a problem."

"And what's that?" Ariana asked.

Everyone looked up to see many cannons powering up from above.

"That." Kirana said firmly. "Run!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Inque, and Masque ran forward while avoiding the laser cannons. Masque tripped and fell to the floor as one cannon was aiming an energy laser at her, but Camilla grabbed Masque and protected together with her flaming force field. Camilla and Masque shared a surprised glance, but they quickly got up and kept moving forward with the others until they saw a shining white light coming towards the end of the tube.

"Look, there's an exit!" Ariana exclaimed.

"Let's move it!" Inque cried.

The K-5 and the Shadow Clan warriors avoided the rapid laser cannons carefully.

"Kirana, you do realize we can't trust them through all of this, right?" Camilla asked.

"Like it or not, this is our only option." Kirana replied.

"You can't be serious. They will turn on us eventually!" Camilla snapped.

"We'll just have to trust that we'll see it coming first." Ezra said.

As Kirana and Ezra ran up ahead, Camilla let out a skeptical sigh and followed after her older sister and younger brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Casey and Norbit sat down on the floor and watched with awe as Sage worked her way through several chapters from her clan history to her past life with a large transparent bubble that she made up with her magic. The bubble projected a recording of Sage skillfully sparring against Rozu and defeated her in a rapid succession combined with her white magic. Casey's mouth dropped as he clapped for the recording in amazement. Norbit clapped along with Casey in amazement.

"Now, are you sure want me to continue?" Sage asked.

"Yeah." Casey said with a nod. "Besides, I still want to know about your moves."

Sage chuckled and waved her hand around the bubble, showing an another recording of Sage's training.

"I'm surprised you find my training interesting." Sage grinned.

"Definitely." Casey grinned back.

"It is entertaining." Norbit said. "I like it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5, Inque, and Masque finally made it to the exit past the blasting laser cannons to catch their breath. They walked past the exit and entered into a shiny light stage, where the floors are orange and the background was black with white dots

"Okay, we're safe for now." Inque said as she observed the stage cautiously.

But suddenly, several large shiny black spheres with white pupiless eyes came popping out of the sky and floated above the mystics.

"What are those things?" Ezra asked.

The spheres suddenly had red rings around them and began descending down on the mages.

"Trouble!" Kirana said. "Let's move!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Masque shouted as she was already flying for the exit.

The spheres were firing rapid laser bolts at the team, but Talia fired a giant ball of strong air at the spheres and Ariana managed to summon a series of incandescent sharp stones to hit some spheres from the ground. The K-5 and the Shadow Clan warriors went running frantically for the exit as more spheres kept chasing after them.

With a quick thought, Camilla turned around to unleash a stream of flaming X-shaped blades from her hands at the spheres. All of the spheres exploded on impact that made the mages tumbling through another exit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Casey was mirroring some of Sage's moves from the bubble. But he quickly lost his balance that made him slam backwards against the portrait of Sage's family, sending it to fall on the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sage!" Casey apologized. "Truly, my bad."

Casey hurriedly picked up the picture frame and caught a good look at it. Norbit walked over to Casey and looked at the picture. The photo was colored that has a handsome man standing next to a beautiful woman. Five small children were smiling childishly. Casey stood up in front of Sage and handed her the picture.

"Is that you, Sage?" Norbit asked.

"Yes." Sage answered as she stared at the picture. "My husband and my children back in Japan."

"Ariana told me a lot about her father." Casey said. "But she never told me about having a brother."

"It was long before Shade came into my life with chaos." Sage sighed. "Caesar was kind and compassionate. Shori would have been about your age now. I would love to see how he would have turned out as well as you have, Casey."

Casey smiled for the compliment from Sage.

"Which reminds me." Sage said as she walked towards the bubble. "There's something I have to show you."

Casey stared at Sage with blinking eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Inque, and Masque walked wearily through the blue and white checkered tunnel with exhaustion.

"Wait a minute!" Inque said sharply. "Something's not right!"

"She's right." Kirana agreed. "I can feel something dangerous coming around us!"

"Are you sure, Kirana?" Camilla asked skeptically.

Suddenly, a metallic black wall came out of nowhere between the rest of the team. Camilla and Ezra were with Masque while Kirana, Ariana, and Talia were with Inque. The team were trapped inside a maze-like layered sphere of glowing pathways under a night sky riddled with extraordinary galaxies, comets, and constellations.

"Guys!" Ezra shouted as he banged his fists on the wall.

"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" Camilla shouted, pounding her flaming fists at the wall on the other side.

"Time to split you all up!" Donna announced.

Kirana was unleashing many scythe blades made of water at the wall with her magic, but her attack have no effect against the wall that made her pant heavily.

"Don't waste your time, Kirana!" Donna mocked with a laugh. "These walls are sealed with magic proof in this world! Neither your aura sense can't track Camilla, Ezra, and Masque!"

Suddenly, several missile launchers popped out of the walls panels that made the mages gasp with wide eyes.

"Oh, this can't be good." Inque said.

"Ariana, now will be a good time for plan right now." Kirana said.

"Way ahead of you." Ariana said, taking out her K-Phone and began dialing something on the screen. "Despite no signal in this world, I can reconfigure the K-Phone's tracking sytem that way it can transmit data enormous distances to trace our way back to the real world and straight to Donna."

"Inque, Talia, destroy the missiles." Kirana said to Inque and Talia.

"No problem." Talia smiled.

The missile launchers opened fire against Inque and Talia, but they easily avoided all the incoming missiles and destroyed them one by one. Ariana ran forward and kept her eyes on her K-Phone as Kirana followed after her from behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile; Camilla, Ezra, and Masque were firing their magic at the wall. But neither of their magic didn't even put a scratch on the wall.

"Are you kidding me? We gotta get outta here!" Camilla complained.

Suddenly, several missile launchers popped out of the walls panels.

"What the heck?" Masque gasped.

"Well, this is perfect." Ezra groaned.

The missile launchers opened fire against Camilla, Ezra, and Masque, causing them to scatter out of the way. Masque was able to destroy each one with her ghost white energy beams, Ezra used his lightning magic to target the missiles and destroy them, but Camilla was losing her protection against the rapid incoming missiles with her flaming force field.

"Camilla!" Ezra shouted.

Before Camilla was about to meet her end, Masque caught the red mage in her arms with the teal mage and phased themselves away from the missile launchers. Masque flew around the corner and escaped from the missile launchers.

"Whew! That was close." Ezra breathed. "Thanks, Masque."

"I guess we're even now." Camilla said.

"If you think I'm gonna let Donna finish you off, then you're sadly mistaken." Masque said as she put Camilla and Ezra down on their feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana moved forward quickly and transformed her hands into whips composed of water, destroying the missile launchers at her sight.

As three mages ran up to Kirana, the rest of the metallic black walls revealed several sonic resonators out of the panels.

"This is really getting ridiculous." Ariana muttered.

The sonic resonators shot out blue gigantic energy beams at the mages, who were dodging out of the way with remarkable reflexes. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Inque charged forward recklessly at the massed weapons, destroying the sonic resonators with every strength and power they got at their sight.

After that, the mages panted heavily with exhaustion. Ariana and Kirana picked themselves up off the floor as Talia and Inque helped each other off the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Masque, Camilla, and Ezra continued to move forward through the maze. During a long moment of silence, Camilla was the first one to break the awkward silence.

"So tell me, Sapphire. Why would a crazy fighter like you doing with a woman like Shade?" Camilla asked.

"I'm surprised you even ask me that. I've known Lady Shade for a while back in Korea." Masque explained. "As a fifteen year old girl, I was an excellent practitioner of kickboxing. I even used my kickboxing moves to be employed by many criminal organizations to earn my reputation as the deadly agent until one day, the organizations ran me out. They would have left me to rot in prison forever. Fortunately for me, Lady shade found my skills useful and she employed me as her deadly agent for many criminal activities in the Shadow Clan. Most recently, the destruction of you, your sisters, your brother, and your mother."

"So you do all that because you owe Shade." Camilla said.

"Well, I only like being her agent for the thrill of a pur fight every day." Masque stated.

"Heh, I can relate to that." Camilla admitted with a shrug.

"Donna mentioned a boss battle I have to do, myself." Ezra said. "But I have no clue what it could be and why would she want me out of you all?"

"I don't know, Ezra." Camilla responded. "But remember; we want you to be prepared for anything."

"I know." Ezra nodded.

As Camilla, Ezra, and Masque took a turn to another corner, they stopped to hear a familiar voice yelling from the other side of the wall.

"Donna!" Inque shouted furiously. "You are so dead when this is over!"

"Hey, it's coming from the next room." Masque said to Camilla and Ezra.

Masque puts her hands together and fired a strong ghost white energy beam directly into the wall, creating a large hole that revealed Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Inque safe and sound.

"Hey, guys." Ezra said.

"So, did you have fun with your plaything?" Kirana asked with a teasing smile.

"Shut up, Kirana." Camilla muttered.

"I've found a way out. It's coming from that constellation up there." Ariana said, looking down at the K-Phone with narrow eyes.

Everyone looked up to look at the constellation that resembled a yin yang symbol. Inque seized the rest of the team around her arms and she sprang out of the maze, heading up into the yin yang constellation. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Masque looked down to see the entire maze collapsing under them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the real world, the K-5 and the Shadow Clan mutants woke up on the lab tables. They took off the helmets on their heads and looked around to find themselves inside the control room that holds the large bright white glowing energy sphere.

"What happened?" Inque asked.

"We're back in the real world." Ariana replied.

"Let's get out of here." Kirana said.

The K-5 and the Shadow Clan mutants got out of the lab tables, rushing themselves out of the control room and entered inside another room. The room was a large chamber topped with a large metallic silver honeycomb-decorated hemisphere. A sudden metallic silver star-shaped platform floated above the mystics, who can see Donna standing on it with no hint of frustration.

"So, you managed to work together after all." Donna said. "Oh, well. Besides, I want you to meet my greatest creation and see Ezra's boss battle."

Donna snapped her fingers and a gigantic black shadow armored cat stomped towards the mystic team. It has slit pupils, long fluffy tail, small black claws, and huge smile that showed its sharp teeth that freaked Talia out from staring at it.

"Now, let's have some real fun, shall we?" Donna grinned.

A cage drops down and Ezra runs over to it. The door opens and a human/snow leopard mutant growling at the teal mage ninja. The hybrid had gray fur with black spots all over his body. He was wearing a black sweater with a hoodie. Blue jeans with ripped parts on the knee parts. And he had a scar on his tail.

Ezra summoned his shield but looked at the items that are scattered on the cage floor. He saw a broken monster truck and a drawing that looked like it was created by a five year old.

"Are you...a boy?" Ezra asked the hybrid.

"A teenager now." Donna told him. "I gave him a little dose of my potion."

"How could you do this to him?!" Ezra exclaimed.

"It's everyone for themselves here." Donna simply said.

"You set me up with a battle I can't do?" Ezra questioned. "Your crazy!"

"Exactly." Donna grinned. "And vengeful. Enjoy your fight."

The hybrid stands in his stance to fight Ezra, making the teal mage ninja nervous but begin his fight.

The shadow armored cat started shooting out several missiles from its mouth. The K-5 and the Shadow Clan warriors scattered around the room to avoid the incoming missiles. After the mages destroyed the missiles with their magic, the shadow armored cat slammed its giant claws to the ground and unleashed a giant bright grey shockwave that knocked Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Inque, and Masque back hard into the walls.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Inque shouted to Kirana. "We're gonna be toast if we don't stop this thing!"

Kirana narrowed her eyes and began analyzing the situation until she found a solution on defeating Donna's creation.

"Talia, Inque, draw the creature's attention to Donna." Kirana called.

Talia and Inque nodded their heads as they got up from the ground and ran for Donna's feline creation. The shadow armored cat began firing a machine-gun barrage of grey energy bolts at Ariana from its mouth, but Ariana ran through all of them without getting hit by one of the energy bolts. Talia and Inque stood in front of Ariana to protect her from the energy bolts. After the feline machine stopped its attack, the shadow armored cat started running straight towards the orange mage and the ink mage mutant.

Kirana ran towards Camilla and Masque, who were getting up from the ground and dusted themselves.

"Camilla, Masque, chain her!" Kirana said, pointing her finger to Donna.

Camilla and Masque glanced at each other with nods. They ran towards the metallic silver platform and launched themselves into the air that sent them above Donna's platform.

"No!" Donna shouted.

Camilla and Masque delievered a simultaneous assault with fire and plasma magic that drove the platform crashing on the shadow armored cat, sending the techno mage and her creation in a large smokey grey explosion. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Inque, and Masque stared in shock at the explosion. But when the smoke cleared, they looked up to see Donna hovering in the air with her rocket boots.

"You may have won this battle, but you haven't seen the last of me!" Donna said angrily.

With that, Donna flew out the open skylight from above. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Inque, and Masque turned their attention to the fight between Ezra and the hybrid. The hybrid kept leaping to attack with his claws but Ezra's shield blocked his attacks until the hybrid managed to knock the teal mage ninja on the floor. Before the hybrid could charge at Ezra, the teal mage ninja blasted a teal energy ball at the hybrid to knock him back. The hybrid tried to walk on his paws but he whimpered in pain. Ezra saw that the teenage hybrid was hurt and walked over to him, only to be growled at.

"It's alright." Ezra said, gently. "I wanna help. Trust me."

Ezra gently pet the hybrid's head and summons a first aid kit from his hand. Ezra began wrapping bandages on the hybrid's leg as the creature calmed down. The hybrid stood on his four paws and looks at Ezra.

"Thank...you..." The hybrid spoke.

Ezra widened his eyes in surprise as his new friend spoke.

"Goodbye..." The hybrid said.

Quickly, the hybrid jumped onto the closest window and took off in the night. Ezra stood up and looked at the direction the hybrid took off with a sad face. His sisters went over to support him.

"Any idea where he could've gone to?" Camilla asked.

"No clue." Ezra responded. "But I believe we'll see him again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Casey and Norbit were leaning against the wall while waiting patiently for Sage until they looked up to see the white mage approaching them with the bubble against her hand.

"I want to show you both that memory." Sage said.

Sage waved her hand around the bubble, showing a recording of Caesar being a mage warrior. He was able to effortlessly defeat three mage ninjas in an instant. He also was proficient in military command and strategy combat that allowed him to lead a group of ninjas and kunoichis from the front-lines in a successful fights against brutal creatures. Casey and Norbit stared at the bubble as if they was mesmerized by Caesar's reputation.

"So cool." Casey said with a smile.

"Yup, that's my husband." Sage said with a nod. "His physical strength and stamina gave his role of a warrior, but the real reason he continues to fight because he has his heart for the ones he cares about."

"Thanks for showing us this, Sage." Casey said. "I know what it's like to lose the one I care about."

Casey wrapped his arms around Sage in a tight hug. Sage jumped a little, but returned the hug with a smile. Norbit walked over and hugged Sage as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Inque, and Masque finally walked out of the warehouse into the alleyway. They collapsed to their knees on the ground with exhaustion for open air.

"Okay...now...I'm beat." Masque spoke as she and Inque got up from the ground.

"Yeah, let's call it a day for now." Inque muttered. "After everything we went through, I need a full hour rest."

Inque and Masque turned around to walk away out of the alleyway. The K-5 got up from the ground and watched two mage mutants walking out with slight surprised faces, but they turned around and walked in the opposite direction of the alleyway.

"You know, Camilla, I'm really impressed for what happened back there." Talia said to Camilla. "You and Masque really made a pretty good team."

"True, but she's still our enemy." Camilla said seriously. "She'll take us out with one move behind our backs."

Suddenly, Camilla stopped walking and shot out a flaming fist right behind Kirana's head to hit a ghost white fist made of plasma energy. That made Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra stared at the disappearing plasma energy hand in shock.

"Sense your enemy's intentions." Camilla continued as she glanced at Masque over her shoulder. "You know when they'll strike in due time."

Masque gave Camilla an impressive grin and turned away to follow Inque, leaving the K-5 watching them one last time. Ezra pulled out the drawing from the hybrid and started to wonder when he'll see him again.


	20. Chapter Twenty

The K-5 stood on a building rooftop under a night sky. Kirana was peering through the binoculars at the TCRI building, Camilla sat on the edge of the rooftop with her arms crossed over her chest, Ezra had fallen asleep while sitting up, Talia sat cross-legged on the ground while playing an app game on her K-Phone, and Donna stared at her K-Phone with boredom.

"Well, there's nothing happening at TCRI." Kirana reported as she lowered the binoculars down.

"Not yet anyway." Ariana pointed out.

"We've been sitting here for hours and the Kraang still haven't released their evil scheme." Talia said.

"You got something, Donna?" Camilla asked.

"According to the Kraang storage device that I decrypted, the Kraang scouting ship is coming through the portal tonight." Ariana explained.

"Okay, so we all have to stay alert at any cost." Kirana said sternly.

Kirana notices that Ezra was still asleep.

"Ezra. Ezra!" Kirana said.

"Huh?! Um, what?" Ezra said as he woke up.

"We have to stay alert." Kirana repeated.

"Yeah, whatever's going on here must be pretty important then."

The K-5 spun around to the source of that familiar voice. They saw the Shadow Clan ninja Kuro walking out the portal made of dark energy as it disappeared right behind him. Kuro stood in front of the mage kunoichis and mage ninja with a smug face.

"Kuro, I'm really not in a mood to play with you right now." Kirana said as she placed her hand on her right hip.

"You're not, but I am." Kuro smirked.

Kuro constructed a tanto sword made of dark energy in his hand and charged forward towards Kirana, who swiftly constructed a katana sword made of water and blocked Kuro's tanto sword that made her step away from her siblings.

"We don't have time for this right now." Kirana said impatiently. "Guys!"

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra instantly summoned their elemental magic in their fighting stances. Kuro forced Kirana's water katana aside that made the blue mage back away.

"You really know how to make a guy feel fun." Kuro said with a smirk. "But relax, guys. I'm not here to fight."

"You're not?" Talia asked in confusion.

"I'm here to chat with you." Kuro said with a smirk. He pointed his dark tanto sword at Ariana. "I heard the geeky one mention the Kraang. Care to tell me?"

"None of your business, Kuro!" Ezra retorted.

"And I prefer studious than geeky!" Ariana snapped.

"Aw, c'mon, spill it. I'm in the mode for some fun." Kuro said.

"Look, we're trying to stop an alien invasion right now." Camilla snapped impatiently. "So, do all of us a favor and back off!"

Then suddenly, Kuro's smug smile faded away by the words "alien invasion" coming out of Camilla's mouth.

"An alien invasion?" Kuro exclaimed with a serious tone. "Are you joking, right?"

Suddenly, the six mages saw a purple light flashing from the opening door on the top of the TCRI building. A freaky weird ship came floating out the building. It has a round metallic silver main body with three short tentacles sprouting from the belly and a strange-looking dark neon pink eye in the center of the main body.

"Nope. We're not." Talia said.

"Oh, this can't be good." Ezra commented.

Even Kuro stared with a hint of fear in his wide eyes as the Kraang ship came floating straight towards the mages.

"Do you have a plan for fighting that thing?" Kuro asked.

"Just one." Kirana said nervously. "Run!"

The Kraang ship fired a pink lightning energy beam at the mages, causing them to run frantically from the flying object. The Kraang ship started pursuing the mystics, who were jumping off the building they were standing on. As the Kraang ship fired another pink lightning energy beam, the K-5 and Kuro landed their feet on the street ground as they quickly continued running away from the Kraang ship.

"What the heck is that thing?" Kuro gasped as he glanced over his shoulder at the Kraang ship.

"Not sure." Kirana said quickly. "But the Kraang are obviously using it for flying and shooting lasers on anything."

One pink lightning energy beam coming from the Kraang ship made the K-5 and Kuro separated each other. Kuro darted quickly into the alley to blend into the shadows, leaving the K-5 running into another alley to hide. Ezra saw a blast of pink lasers coming at them and blocked his sisters with his magic. The pink laser stopped and Ezra felt pain on his hands.

"Ezra! Are you ok?" Camilla asked in worry.

"I'm fine." Ezra grunts. "But my hands aren't."

The K-5 immediately took off and hid in a dumpster. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra lifted the lid slightly open to watch the Kraang ship hovering past the alley. Kuro watched the Kraang ship scanning the area before disappearing out of sight. He noticed the K-5 got out of the dumpster in the alley nearby and vanished in the shadows.

Then, the K-5 opened up a portal with their magic and retreated into the fortress for a plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Shadow Clan HQ, Kuro walked through the doors into the throne room and marched closer to Lady Shade, who was sitting on her throne chair with a calm face from her mask. He approached her with a kneeling bow down to the floor and began informing the serious, horrific threat from the Kraang he'd experienced.

"The Kraang are plotting an alien invasion, mother." Kuro explained. "They've got some serious hardware from that ship of theirs. We have to do something before it's too late."

Kuro looked up to notice that Lady Shade didn't say a word at all.

"Mother?" Kuro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We shall proceed our main objective as planned." Lady Shade said.

"But..." Kuro said.

"We will receive a shipment of new weapons from an old friend tomorrow." Lady Shade said. "Those weapons will help us put an end to the K-5 and Sage once and for all. We can deal with the so-called Kraang afterwards."

Kuro rolled his eyes in annoyance as he had enough with his mother's largely unavailing vendetta against Saldana.

"Haven't you been listening to a thing I've said?" Kuro snapped. "You know, I'm getting sick and tired of your blindness right now!"

Lady Shade slammed her fist on the throne chair handle that silenced Kuro from talking back.

"Enough, Kuro! You have your say. Now you will do as you were told." Lady Shade ordered.

"Yes, mother." Kuro responded begrudgingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, three mages was minding their own business in the living room. Camilla was hitting the punching dummy with her fists. Talia was playing her orange handheld game console on the couch. Kirana was pace around the room in a desperate manner. But Ariana was doing on her business inside her lab and wrapping Ezra's hands with bandages.

"Can I still fight?" Ezra asked.

"Just without magic." Ariana explained. "Your hands should heal by tomorrow."

Ezra nodded but sighed disappointed.

"I blew it, my hands got messed up because I was trying my new abilities." Ezra said.

"You'll get there, Ezra." Ariana comforted. "It just takes time."

"That Kraang ship has proven to be incredibly dangerous." Kirana said with a sigh as she halted her pacing for a minute. "We've gotta figure out the Kraang's plans on using it."

"Or we can just destroy it and call it a night." Camilla said, halting her fists from the training dummy.

"That's pretty tough coming from you, Camilla." Talia commented as she placed her console down on the couch and stared at Camilla.

"Besides, how are we gonna hit a Kraang ship that can turn itself invisible?" Ezra asked.

"Obviously, we load up the Sonicruiser and challenge that Kraang ship." Camilla replied.

"That doesn't sound too smart." Kirana replied. "We need a way a way to find an invisible ship just in case you haven't notice."

"And that's when I came in." Ariana said as she came out of her lab. She took a small metallic silver star-shaped device with three antennas sticking out at the center. "I was able to build radar beacons that can shoot waves of electromagnetic radiation. If the Kraang ship gets anywhere near us, I'll get an alarm on my K-Phone."

"Nice work, Ariana!" Kirana said. "Let's split up and place those beacons."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 began putting up the beacons on different rooftops around the TCRI building on a normal night. Kirana have finished installing up the last of the beacons on the rooftop in the north side of the TCRI building.

"The last beacon has been installed." Kirana said from her K-Phone.

"Good. That's the last of them." Ariana said over Kirana's K-Phone. "Camilla, Talia, and Ezra should be done by now."

"Roger that." Kirana said. "See you back at the Sonicruiser."

Kirana hung up her K-Phone and stood still for a moment. She closed her eyes to focus on a familiar black aura around the rooftop area. She quickly opened her eyes and turned around just in time to see Kuro walking out the portal made of dark energy as it disappeared right behind him.

"Alright, Kuro. What do you want?" Kirana asked.

"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not here to fight you again." Kuro spoke. "I want to help you fight the Kraang."

"You want to an alliance with me and my team?" Kirana asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you serious? One, we're enemies. Two, you wanna destroy us. And three, you're loyal to Shade. So why would you want to team up with me?"

"Because if the Kraang win, we don't have a planet anymore." Kuro explained. "That's sad to lose everything, doesn't it?"

"And what if Shade found out?" Kirana pointed out.

"Look, Shade is stubborn and short-sighted that she drives me crazy because of her stupid vendetta!" Kuro snapped. "She may be blind to see the real problem, but I know you're not. So, what do you say?"

Kuro held out a hand for Kirana, who was staring down at his hand with a hard gaze.

"Just give me some time to think about it." Kirana said.

Kirana leaped backwards from the rooftop and disappeared out of sight, leaving Kuro alone on the roof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 gathered together in the dojo. They knelt in front of their mother while Casey and Norbit were standing next to Sage as Kirana was explaining her story about encountering Kage.

"Look, I know we shouldn't trust, Kuro." Kirana said. "But I got the sense that he really had enough with Lady Shade."

"Uh, hello? That's just what he wants you to think." Camilla snapped.

Kirana ignored Camilla and looked up at Sage.

"Mother, is there any chance he's telling the truth?" Kirana asked.

"It's possible." Sage replied. "Loyalties are known to shift from time to time, but deception is the key to any trained mystic's advantage. You must trust your own instincts, but you have to be aware the trap of believing something you wish it to be true."

"So, you're saying that I should trust my instincts whenever he either will or won't betray us unless my instincts are wrong?" Kirana questioned slowly.

"Correct." Sage said with a nod.

"Okay, that's too much for me to understand this." Talia said. "Especially if it involves Kuro."

"Maybe this is still a bad idea." Ezra said.

"He does have a point." Camilla said. "There's no way we're forming an alliance with Kuro! I don't know why are we even talking about this!"

"Well, it would be nice to have an experienced fighter on our side." Ariana said.

"Hey." Casey said as he approached Ariana. "You're saying I don't have enough experience to fight?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Ariana said quickly as her eyes went shockingly wide. "It's just it would be nice to have Kuro as part of our team."

"Yeah, because even though he's your mortal enemy, he's so cool and awesome." Casey said with a firm face.

"Wait! That's not true! What I mean is...!" Ariana said.

Camilla suddenly clamped her hand over Ariana's mouth.

"Don't fight it." Camilla said. "This conservation is sad enough as it is."

Norbit walked over to Ezra and scanned his hands.

"Ice packs are advised to heal hands faster to avoid pressure." Norbit said as he held an ice pack.

"I'll be fine, Norbit." Ezra replied. "Someone else has to help save the world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 went patrolling the city in the Sonicruiser.

"Guys, I've got something!" Ariana said suddenly as she was looking at her K-Phone. "It's the Kraang ship!

Kirana rotated the wheel to turn the Sonicruiser around the corner and halted the vehicle to see the Kraang scouting ship floating above them.

"Oh boy." Talia groaned slowly.

The Kraang scouting ship powered the pink lightning blast at the Sonicruiser, but Kirana was able to reverse the Sonicruiser and then turned the vehicle to drive away. The Kraang scouting ship flew after them as it began firing pink lightning blasts that barely hit the speeding vehicle.

"Step on it, Kirana!" Camilla shouted as she started shooting the laser cannons at the Kraang scouting ship.

"Hang on!" Ezra yelled.

Kirana rotated the wheel to turn the Sonicruiser into a sharp corner through street roads, but the Kraang scouting ship wasn't going to let them go that easily.

"I think I've figured out the ship's mission and it's us!" Ariana said in alarm.

"Talia, we could really need an escape route right now!" Kirana called.

"Most of the alleys are dead end!" Talia said as she scanned the map. "I can't find an escape route!"

Suddenly, the K-5 saw a familiar figure launching his motorcycle off the rooftop and landed himself on the Kraang scouting ship. Kirana hit the brake as Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra came up to the driver station to watch the view screen. The Kraang scouting ship stopped firing pink lightning blasts and started spinning itself around, making the ship flying off course with a dark mage ninja standing on it.

"Kuro!" Kirana said. "We have to go back and help him."

"We do?" Talia asked.

"Look, Kuro can take care of himself." Camilla said with a firm face. "We have to focus on us getting away from the ship."

"Plus, the Sonicruiser needs full repair from the ship's firing blasts." Ariana added.

"Then I'll save Kuro myself." Kirana said as she stepped out of the driver's seat. "Camilla, you drive! I'll meet you guys back in any alley you can find."

Camilla quickly sat on the driver's seat as Kirana opened the hatch and jumped into the Nitro Bike, ejecting the motorcycle from the Sonicruiser to ride after the flying Kraang scouting ship.

As the Kraang scouting ship continued to jerk around the city, Kuro was forced to hang on so the ship can't knock him off.

"This may be no be fun, but this thing is going down!" Kuro grunted.

Kuro stabbed his dark energized claws at the Kraang scouting ship and began using his dark magic to destroy the circuits from the inside. But that made the Kraang scouting ship turn upside down, causing Kuro to fall off of it. Kuro didn't have time to react during the fall, but Kirana drove her Nitro Bike to make him land on the seat behind her.

"Are you ok, Kuro?" Kirana asked.

"Yeah, thanks for saving me." Kuro responded.

"You thanking me? That's a start." Kirana remarked with a grin.

"I guess." Kuro grinned with a shrug.

Kirana revved the motorcycle and drove away from the Kraang scouting ship without being detected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The powered down Sonicruiser parked itself in a dead-end alley. Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra were waiting for Kirana to return until the Nitro Bike hatch was finally opened.

"We're back." Kirana announced.

Kirana climbed inside the Sonicruiser as Kuro climbed out behind Kirana and looked around the stations with an admiring face.

"Hey, what's he doing in here?" Camilla snapped.

"Wicked ride." Kuro said with a grin. "You guys really upgraded this car into a whole new level of awesomeness."

"Why'd you bring him here?" Ezra asked Kirana.

"Kuro just risked his life to save us. Let's just hear him out." Kirana said.

"Hey, you're the leader." Camilla sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look, like it or not, you five need my help." Kuro said with a serious face. "If you really wanted to take out that ship down, you're gonna need a powerful weapon."

"Oh yeah? What kind of powerful weapon?" Camilla asked skeptically.

"A shoulder fired missile launcher." Kuro replied.

"I'm starting to like him." Camilla admitted to Kirana.

"And how are you gonna get a shoulder fired missile launcher anyway?" Ariana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"From Lady Shade." Kuro said simply.

"Wait, what?" Talia asked. "You're kidding, right?"

"Yeah, there's no way she's gonna share her toys with us." Ezra said.

"She won't know about it. I promise you." Kuro said assuredly. "She's actually buying a big shipment of weapons down at the docks tomorrow night. All you five need to do is sneak into the shipment without getting caught."

"Are you sure you're not leading us into a trap?" Camilla asked with a wary face.

"Why would I do that?" Kuro snapped. "You're the only ones who know about the Kraang more than the Shadow Clan."

"He has a point there, Camilla." Ariana admitted to Camilla:

"But if neither of you believe me, I'll get the missile launcher myself." Kuro said with a careless shrug.

The K-5 exchanged each other's looks.

"Why are you willing to steal a weapon from Shade?" Kirana questioned.

"Look, the Kraang have to be stopped." Kuro said. "If Shade's not gonna do anything about it, then I will. With or without your help."

Kirana looked to her younger siblings with a firm look. Ariana and Talia nodded in agreement while Camilla turned away with her arms crossed over her chest in a "I don't care" manner and Ezra gave a small smile.

"Okay, we're in." Kirana said with a small grin. "Get us the missile launcher and we'll team up."

"Deal." Kuro smirked.

Kuro and Kirana shook their hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Kuro and Lady Shade teleported themselves together on the dock. They stood on the giant metal cargo boxes and stared down to see a beautiful Russian mage below. They also saw two familiar figures confronting the Russian human man on the docks below. One was a Japanese man. He has a slim, muscular body with a tall stature. He wore a shiny chrome plate armor on his chest, shoulders, arms and lower legs worn over a maroon outfit with a dark blue cape hanging over his back. He also wore a metallic silver samurai/damio-style helmet with a removable mouth plate on his face. Another was a Japanese teenage girl. She was approximately close to Kuro's height with a lean, slender figure. She has short black hair with a large portion of dyed blonde at the back in a style of angled bob with long eartails. She has amber eyes, several black earrings, and bright red eyeliner over the tips of her eyebrows. She wore a full-body black bodysuit worn under a silver armor attached to her chest, part on the thighs, and around the shoulders, arms, and legs. She also wore traditional Japanese shoes and a purple belt around the waist.

With wide eyes on their faces, Kuro and Lady Shade leaped up and landed on the ground as they walked towards their familiar figures. The two figures turned around to watch Lady Shade and Kuro standing in front of them.

"Burakkurozu Rozu, lovely and deadly as ever." The Japanese man greeted in a pleasant tone.

"I've heard of the name." The Japanese girl said. "She's Lady Shade, right?"

"Yes, and that boy is her son Kuro." The Japanese man replied. He looked from the teenaged girl to Kuro. "I see your son has grown into a master ninja no doubt."

"It's real a pleasure to see you again, Oroku Saki." Lady Shade said with a grin.

"Wait a minute. That's the Shredder I've been hearing about, right?" Kuro asked.

"Indeed, and that girl is his daughter Karai." Lady Shade replied. She looked from Kuro to the teenaged girl. "And it's an honor to meet your daughter as a master kunoichi."

Karai and Kuro walked forward to shake their hands until they looked at each other with wide eyes. They made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Rebellious eyes—the exact same color that the earth had possessed. Their eyes were sparkled with fearlessness, loyalty, and edginess on the faces. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their parent, their clan, their sense of honor, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the human kunoichi and the mage ninja that held them here now.

"Now that we're all here, let's get down to business." Shredder said as he interrupted the moment between his daughter and Lady Shade's son.

"Agreed." Lady Shade concurred.

Kuro and Karai released their hands from their shake as they followed their parents to the Russians while turning away with tiny smiles.

"Where is the shipment?" Shredder demanded.

"You brought what we requested?" Lady Shade said.

The Russian man turned around to face Shredder and fixed up his tie. The Russian mystic turned around to face Shade with a professional look on her face. The Russians took out the briefcases out of the car. With a nod from the Shredder, one of the two Foot Ninjas walked up to the Russian man with a briefcase and opened the case. After short seconds, the Foot Ninja closed the case. With a two-fingered signal from Lady Shade, one of the two Shadow Ninjas walked up to the Russian mystic with a briefcase and opened the case. After short seconds, the Shadow Ninja closed the case.

"I'll inspect the merchandise." Karai said as she climbed down from the car and moved towards the large crates.

"They will have to do better than that if they want to get me impressed." Kuro said as he climbed down from the car and moved next to Karai.

The Russian man moved to get inside his car, but the second Foot Ninja stopped him from doing so. The Russian mage was ready to summon her magic until the second Shadow Ninja tied her hands tight with chains.

"Don't you trust me?" The Russian man asked Shredder with a worried smile. "We're old friends."

"I will never betray you, Shade." The Russian mage said to Lady Shade. "We've known each other for years."

"Then you won't mind keeping me company while she checks." Shredder countered darkly.

"I will allow you to do the same as he observes." Lady Shade retorted cynically.

Karai and Kuro smirked as they opened two of the crates and looked inside to lift two of the missile launcher. Karai was inspecting the weapon while Kuro was already amazed by the weapon.

"Okay. Now, I'm impressed." Kuro grinned.

Kuro and Karai went inspecting for more interesting weapons from the crates, but Kuro noticed Karai turn to look up with a frown and moved next to her.

"What is it?" Kuro asked.

"They're here." Karai breathed.

Kuro followed Karai's gaze to see five mutant turtles on some of the shipping crates from above. Karai and Kuro looked towards Shredder and Lady Shade as they both knew exactly the mutants are about to do. As the mutants suddenly released the grenade from their water balloon launcher, Kuro and Karai quickly ran towards Shredder and Lady Shade with fast speed.

"Look out!" Karai and Kuro yelled.

As Karai and Kuro launched themselves to push their parents out of the way, the grenade hit the car that electrocuted the Russians, two Foot Ninjas, and two Shadow Ninjas to knock them out to unconsciousness.

The K-5 stood behind a steel storage box and saw what's happening near the edge of the dock.

"Huh?" Ariana gasped.

"What the heck?" Talia exclaimed.

"What just happened?" Camilla asked in shock.

"What was that?" Ezra asked.

"I don't know, but we have to move." Kirana said.

"Wait, we got another problem." Ariana said, taking out her K-Phone and looked down on the screen.

"And what's that?" Camilla asked.

"The Kraang ship is nearby!" Ariana replied. "Two of them!"

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked up to see two Kraang scouting ships flying above the dock with wide eyes.

"Let's move." Kirana ordered.

The K-5 disappeared in the maze of shipping crates as they weren't aware of Lady Shade and the Kraang ship following after them. Kuro noticed the five mages running with Lady Shade behind them that forced him to hide into the shadows. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra avoided through the maze of storage boxes until they reached to a dead end. They spun around to confront Lady Shade, whose hands were engulfing in black energy.

"This couldn't get any better." Ezra groaned.

"Bestow the location of your mother Sage and I may let you live." Lady Shade said threateningly.

The K-5 and Lady Shade looked up to see the Kraang scouting ship hovering above them.

"Are you kidding me?" Talia said with an exasperate sigh.

"Honto ni wa?" Lady Shade exclaimed sharply in Japanese.

The Kraang scouting ship fired a pink lightning blast that made the K-5 scatter out of the way. Lady Shade dodged the blasts into a storage box, leaving the Kraang scouting ship flying off into the sky. Kirana darted forward to the storage box and pushed the box door shut, locking the handle shut to trap Lady Shade inside.

"Come on! Let's stop the Kraang ship!" Kirana said to her siblings.

Kirana ran forward as Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra followed their oldest sister.

But suddenly, a black energized claw sliced through the door out of the storage box. The K-5 stopped immediately and watched the claw destroying the handle. When the doors were kicked open, Lady Shade walked out of the storage box and turned to the mages. Camilla, Ariana, and Talia summoned their magic as Lady Shade blocked their way from escaping. Ezra could feel his magic coming back but he needed a little time for it to come to him.

"Kirana, you stop the Kraang ship! We'll handle Shade!" Ariana called to Kirana.

Kirana nodded her head and sprang into the air, leaving her younger siblings fighting against the Shadow Clan leader.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana stood her feet on top of the storage box with a missile launcher in her hands until she turned around to see Kuro standing in front of her.

"So, you're smarter than I thought." Kuro said with a smile. "You really are my friend. I was starting to give my hopes up."

"I kept my words." Kirana said. "Besides, who was shooting a grenade at you and Karai?"

"Some mutants. Five of them." Kuro replied. "They looked like turtles with masks and ninja weapons."

Kirana's eyes widened wide when the word "turtles" came out of Kuro's mouth, knowing that Leonardo was here during the dealership with the Shredder and Lady Shade.

"Besides, how do you know Karai?" Kuro asked.

Kirana shook her head and focused on Kuro.

"Oh, she's an old friend from Japan." Kirana replied.

"Well, I soul-touched her during Shredder and Shade's long reunion." Kuro said.

"Wait a minute. You soul-touched my best friend?" Kirana gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, she's hot." Kuro admitted. "She got the whole bad girl rebel type and I like it."

"Yup, that's her." Kirana said with a shrug. Her voice then became serious. "But why did you save Lady Shade from the grenade? You said she was driving you crazy."

"Because she's my mother." Kuro said firmly.

"Lady Shade is your mother and you are Shade's son?" Kirana exclaimed surprisingly.

"The one and only." Kuro said with a shrug. His voice then became serious. "Look, Kirana, I'll be back to see you again as soon as I figure out what these strange images are all about. But I'm gonna need your help on this."

"I will. I promise." Kirana said with a nod. She let out a smile on her face. "I always knew you have a good side in you."

"Don't push your luck." Kuro smirked. "Now, hurry up and shoot that ship."

With a nod, Kirana held the missile launcher on her left shoulder and aimed the target at the flying Kraang scouting ship. She fired the missile that was coming fast towards the ship and hit it at the eye, causing the Kraang scouting ship to spiral out of control in the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, four mages managed to hold their own against Lady Shade as the fight took them back to the dock. Lady Shade looked down at the mage kunoichis and mage ninja from on top of a storage box.

"I'm asking you one more time. Where is Sage?" Lady Shade demanded.

"We will never tell you, witch!" Camilla snapped.

"Very well then." Lady Shade said, charging up a black magical sphere between her hands. "Die!"

"Leave my sisters alone!" Ezra yelled.

At that moment, Ezra could feel his lightning magic coming back to him and his sorcerer powers combining together with him. Ezra created ten lightning bolts to make Lady Shade back up and block the incoming bolts.

Four mages looked up sharply to see the Kraang scouting ship coming down towards them.

"Incoming!" Camilla warned as she pointed her index finger in the air.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra moved aside just when the Kraang scouting ship crashed into Lady Shade and crashed hard into the water along with her.

"Mother!" Kuro shouted. He turned to Kirana with a serious face. "We'll see each other again soon, Kirana. No matter what happens, I still got your back."

Kuro sprang high into the air and dove himself into water. Kirana looked out over the water with a smile and tossed the missile launcher away. She turned to see her siblings standing behind her and they turned to run off from the dock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 sat on the couch with soda in their hands for relaxation. Ariana took a sip of her grape soda and turned to notice that Kirana was smiling on her face.

"Kirana, you just blew up the Kraang ship!" Ariana said. "What can you possibly be more happy about?"

"I'm just happy that Kuro is on our side now." Kirana grinned. "In secret, that is."

"But remember, he is Shade's son." Camilla reminded. "If he betrays us, I'll strike him down."

"Yeah, yeah." Kirana smiled, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her blue raspberry soda.

"You sure told us, sis." Ezra said, before taking a sip of his blueberry soda.

"Besides, I wonder how's Kuro's doing when he went in to save Shade." Talia wondered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kuro gasped as he soared into the air out of the water with a pair of dark energized wings. He used all his strength to fly himself and his mother towards the docks. Kuro landed on his feet and placed Lady Shade down on the ground as Lady Shade coughed up water from her lungs and started to breathe deeply.

"Well done, Kuro." Lady Shade said. "Plus, I have a surprise for you."

Kuro looked down in surprise as Lady Shade lifted one of the Kraang aliens with one hand.

"Looks like you were right after all." Lady Shade said with a cruel grin. "This blob could be useful for us in the Shadow Clan."

The Kraang was struggling to break free from Lady Shade's grasp and began squealing with a snarl.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

In the Shadow Clan headquarters, the Kraang alien was squealing angrily as Lady Shade used her black magic to imprison the alien creature inside a transparent black bubble and began squeezing it painfully.

"One more time. Why are you hunting the K-5?" Lady Shade demanded.

The Kraang alien squeaked with a growl as a response as Lady Shade kept squeezing the creature with her magic. Kuro was sitting on a cloud of dark energy and watched the whole thing with an amusing smile.

"They actually don't talk much outside their little houses." Kuro said with a smirk.

Kuro snapped his fingers and two giant hands made of dark energy carried the broken Kraang droid. The alien robot has no arms and no legs thanks to Donna, who was using the alien technology to her inventions. Two giant hands placed the Kraang droid on the table in the center of the throne room. Lady Shade levitated the alien creature into the droid body from the bubble, allowing the Kraang alien to activate the robot. Kuro and Lady Shade watched the rising Kraang droid's head locking onto Lady Shade with its glowing neon pink eyes.

"Kraang is lacking the knowledge to answer the questions that the one known as Lady Shade is asking of Kraang." The Kraang droid spoke.

"Do all of these creatures speak like this?" Lady Shade asked Kuro with a raised eyebrow.

"You have no idea." Kuro replied.

"Even if Kraang is possessing the knowledge, the one known as Lady Shade will never be getting that knowledge from Kraang." The Kraang droid continued.

"You didn't have any other plans for me today, did you?" Kuro asked Lady Shade.

Lady Shade shot Kuro a deadpan look on her face and lifted up the Kraang droid to trap the alien robot in a sphere of black energy.

"Let's try again. Why are you hunting the K-5?" Lady Shade asked threateningly.

"The ones known as the K-5 are possessing the ultimate essence needed by Kraang. The ones known as Dastren's son and the Four Dragonesses." The Kraang responded in a fearful tone. "But they are allied with the human lifeform known as Casey Jones."

"Wait a minute. Dastren's son? The Four Dragonesses?" Lady Shade gasped with wide eyes. "I didn't know the great Dastren had a child. And I thought all of them were vanished from their final battle years ago. And who is this Casey Jones?"

"He is the one known as the distraction." The Kraang droid explained. "He is preventing us from processing the link which is missing in the plan which is the plan of Kraang."

"Sounds like this Casey Jones is one brave human if you ask me." Kuro said with a smirk.

"Then perhaps we can use him to draw the K-5 out of hiding." Lady Shade said.

"Or I can persuade him to lure the K-5 to us." Kuro suggested.

"Kuro, find this boy and bring him to me." Lady Shade ordered.

Kuro nodded his head and turned around to exit the throne room, but he only have his own plans for Casey in his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Talia, Ezra, Norbit and Casey sat on the floor in the dojo as they watched Sage preparing an important training lesson with the smirking Camilla.

"In a case of battle, when you decide to give up easily, I'll show you how to unbalance your opponent." Sage said to Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey. She turned back to Camilla. "Observe. Camilla, carry me."

Camilla's smirk quickly disappeared. As Sage levitated herself up with criss crossed legs, she landed on her daughter's back that made Camilla struggling to lift her mother on her back.

"Unbalance your opponent will give you the perfect opportunity to strike sneakily." Sage advised wisely.

"Like how, mom?" Talia asked cautiously.

"Anyway you can." Sage said. "Like this, for example."

Sage empowered her finger with white energy on the tip and shoved it into Camilla's right ear, causing the red mage's hair flying everywhere with a disgusted face. As Camilla dropped herself on the floor to clean her right ear, Sage then wrapped Camilla tightly with her white energy rope and knocked her daughter hard to the wall.

"Whoa!" Ezra said with a smile.

Casey laughed loudly on the floor while pointing his finger to Camilla.

"You see? That's how you do it." Sage said as she walked into her room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then, four mages and a robot sat on the couch in the living room. Kirana was watching Battlestar Matrix while eating gummy bears, Talia was reading her comic book, Camilla was feeding her pet cat Samson with fried fish bits in her hand, and Ezra was playing a game on his K-phone with Norbit watching the game.

"Hey guys!" Ariana called as she came out of her lab. "I was analyzing some sewage water and you guys won't believe what I've discovered."

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit walked into Ariana's lab, where Casey was sitting on a rolling chair next to Ariana's desk. They saw their sister bringing over a large beaker filled with strange purple liquid on her textbooks in her hands.

"So, what did you discover?" Kirana asked.

"I was going through some files on the Kraang storage device and found out the Kraang are using a special process to change Earth's water into Kraang water." Donna explained. "They already started the process. I was manage to find a low concentration of Kraang chemicals in the sewage."

"Chemicals can be hazardous for water if they do not have a good reaction." Norbit advised.

"And I take it that's a bad thing." Ezra guessed.

"But what's the difference between Kraang water and sewage water?" Kirana asked.

"Simple. Watch this." Ariana said.

Ariana held up a slice of pizza and slowly dipped the slice into the beaker of Kraang water, causing the pizza slice to disintegrate in fast seconds.

"But this is only a tiny bit in the water supply." Ariana continued. "But the increasing concentration can..."

"Destroyed everyone in New York who uses water?" Talia gasped frantically with a horror face.

"That's straight-up cruel, yo." Casey said with a serious face.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Casey, and Norbit gathered around Ariana, who was staring at her beeping laptop.

"Thanks to my access to the satellite, the scanner had located the Kraang facility right here." Ariana reported as she pointed to a pink dot on the digital map. "We can't let them transform the whole water supply into the city!"

"Looks like we got a mission." Kirana stated. "Ready to go, Casey?"

"As much as I love to, I can't." Casey said. "Unfortunately, I have a late essay to do. Thanks to Ariana who convince the teacher for giving me another chance."

"No problem." Ariana smiled.

"Plus, I need some food to fuel my energy." Casey said. "Have a good mission."

Casey exited out of Ariana's lab.

"I would like to accompany with you all on this mission." Norbit said.

"Alright, buddy. So, Ariana, how are we gonna get down there?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, I've been working on something that is pretty awesome!" Ariana grinned proudly.

Ariana walked into a metallic silver door behind her and opened it with her magic. As the door opened wide, the lights turned on to reveal an armored submarine right in front of the mages and the robot. The armored submarine resembled itself as a real-life manta ray. It has a two-seated llipsoid-shaped cockpit in the center covered by a resilient and aquadynamic glass. On both sides, it has a white oval-shaped ballast tank. Surrounding both the cockpit and the ballast tanks is a flat, manta ray-shaped frame. It also has a rear tail plane on each side with three powerful lights and three engines on the rear.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra smiled excitedly in amazement.

"I call it the Magnolia Torpedo." Ariana said with a proud smile.

"Nice name." Talia grinned.

"Let's take it for a spin." Kirana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, the Magnolia Torpedo began propelling down into the deep bottom of the ocean. Ariana was locating the Kraang facility through the tracking device while Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit were staring at the undersea sight.

"This is so wicked." Camilla said.

"Yeah, this submarine is amazing, Ariana." Kirana smiled.

"Heads up, guys!" Ariana said firmly. "We're almost there."

Ariana activated the engines and the Magnolia Torpedo soared through the ocean with fast speed. Norbit looked through the window and saw something that caught his attention.

"Ariana? I have a question. Is it possible that the Kraang facility has a shape like a giant Loch Ness Monster?" Norbit asked Ariana.

"No. Not really." Ariana replied.

"Then, what is that?" Norbit asked as he pointed his finger to the window.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra collectively gazed to the window to see a large sea monster swimming around the Kraang facility protectively.

"Look, the Kraang brought it here from Dimension X judging by the physiology of the creature." Ariana said.

"Well, how do we get to the facility without getting caught by that?" Ezra asked.

"Simple. We'll go stealth." Kirana said.

Ariana powered down the entire Magnolia Torpedo into stealth mode and approached silently towards the facility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the city, Casey was walking on the sidewalk with a sad frown. He couldn't help but feel that he's missing all the action that the K-5 and Norbit are having during their mission. He took a turn around the corner to see the familiar noodle shop ahead and briskly walked towards it. He then noticed a vending machine right outside and walked forward to check it out. There were labels on the buttons that has all of Murakami's meals written in English and Japanese.

"Yo, what's this?" Casey muttered.

"Oh, you can order your food with this machine."

Casey looked up at a teenage boy who stood next to him. He wore a short sleeved black shirt, blue jeans, dark grey fingerless gloves with spiked cuffs, and black sneakers. Casey watched as the boy put one coin in the machine and pressed a button, causing the machine to let out a wooden token come out of the bottom.

"They have these machines in Tokyo." The boy explained as he showed the token to Casey. "You give this to the chef to order your meal."

"Oh, thanks, dude." Casey smiled.

Casey looked back at the machine to put his one coin in the machine and pressed his favorite meal button before taking a wooden token out of the machine.

"May I join you?" The boy asked casually.

"Sure, dude." Casey said with a shrug.

Casey and his new friend walked into the restaurant to find Murakami mixing ingredients in his giant pot.

"Yo, Murakami!" Casey greeted.

"Hello, Casey-san!" Mr. Murakami greeted. "What can I do for you today?"

Casey and the boy placed their tokens to the table, making Murakami find the two tokens and felt the sign with his thumb.

"Ah, pizza gyoza!" Mr. Murakami smiled. "Excellent choice!"

"Hai." The boy said with a nod. "Kyōmibukaidesu ne."

"Whoa, you speak Japanese?" Casey asked surprisingly.

"I am from Tokyo." The boy replied. "But I've never heard of pizza gyoza before. Is that something new in America?"

"Yeah, Murakami invented it." Casey responded. "You should try one."

"That sounds great." The boy smiled.

Casey and the boy sat on the chair as Murakami turned around to prepare meals for them.

"So, what's your name?" The boy asked.

"I'm Casey." Casey introduced. "And your name?"

"The name's Chase." The boy replied.

"So, what brings you to New York from Japan?" Casey asked.

"I live alone with my mom." Chase responded. "She's here working on financial matters. She's a businesswoman with executive instincts."

Murakami came to the table and brought the food to the boys.

"Itadakimasu." Chase said as he folded her hands.

"Idatakimasu." Casey repeated as he folded his hands.

Chase took one pizza gyoza and ate it in his mouth.

"Whoa, these are the best dumpling ever!" Chase smiled.

"I know, right?" Casey smiled. He then spotted two black crescent moon-shaped birthmarks on the back of Chase's hands. "What's that on your hands?"

"These are my birthmarks." Chase replied simply. "Like your five friends."

Suddenly, Casey widened his eyes wide in shock.

"Kuro?" Casey gasped.

"In the flesh." Kuro smirked.

Casey stepped backwards towards the door as Kuro stood up from his seat.

"Look, Casey, my mother would love to meet you, but I won't let that happen." Kuro said firmly with a serious face. "I really don't want to hurt you."

"Wait a minute. Why?" Casey asked. "You work for the Shadow clan."

"But you can ask Kirana." Kuro said. "I'm an ally to her and her siblings. I only want to see you in action. See how much you can fight with the big guns."

"Oh really?" Casey smirked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 and Norbit snuck silently inside of the Kraang facility. They quietly walked through the hallways and hid on the ledge inside the main control room, where the entire place was filled with Kraang droids.

"Okay, we have to take them down in stealth mode." Kirana whispered.

"Kirana, we're ninjas, for pete's sake." Ariana argued. "I'm pretty sure we all know how to stay quiet."

Suddenly, Ariana's K-Phone rang in a loud volume. Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra looked at Ariana with shocked expressions while Talia chuckled under her breath.

"Um, you saying, Ariana?" Talia remarked with a grin.

Unfortunately, the loud sound of Ariana's K-Phone caught the Kraang droids' attention. They took out their laser guns and started firing neon pink energy blasts at the K-5, causing the five mages to jump off the ledge and scattered around the room. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra dodged the energy blasts with their amazing agility and reflexes. Norbit took cover behind a wall and watched his mage friends fight the Kraang.

"Sorry, Casey, I really can't talk right now." Ariana said as she took her K-phone and placed it on her right ear.

"Ariana, Kuro is with me." Casey said calmly. "He wants to challenge me into a fight."

"Say what?" Ariana shouted. She turned her head to Kirana, who moved next to her. "Kuro is challenging Casey to a fight!"

"Really?" Kirana asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, let him have one. We trust Kuro, remember?"

"Alright, Casey. Accept the challenge because the guys and I are kinda busy at the moment." Ariana said. "Just remember what my mother told you."

Ariana hung up her K-Phone and returned to the battle with Kirana.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Casey and Kuro faced each other in an alleyway. Casey charged forward and swung his hockey stick at Kuro, who easily moved out of the way to avoid the attack.

"I have to admit, Jones. You got some guts in you." Kuro mused. He slowly constructed a katana sword made of dark energy. "Come on. Gimme all you got."

Casey took several hockey pucks to the ground and hit them one by one with his hockey stick. Kuro easily sliced each hockey puck with his katana sword, but the last hockey puck caught him off-guard and stepped back when the hockey puck hit him in the right cheek of his face.

"Good hit." Kuro grinned.

"I got a few tricks." Casey grinned back.

"Now, it's time to get really serious." Kuro said.

Kuro got into his strong stance with his katana sword just when Casey started charging towards him with his hockey stick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the underwater Kraang facility, the K-5 have managed to defeat the large number of Kraang droids with their magic.

"Well, that work out nicely." Camilla said.

"Okay, Ariana, how can we take this place down?" Kirana asked.

"Well, the chemical is highly explosive." Ariana replied.

"How do you know that?" Norbit questioned.

"Because not only it has a hydro-crabon on it's outer ring, but because of that sign over there." Ariana explained as she pointed her index finger to a Kraang sign. She then grabbed the Kraang gun from the ground. "Camilla, melt the opening for me."

"With pleasure." Camilla grinned.

Camilla's finger gently touched the small opening of the Kraang gun, causing it to melt into a small liquid puddle.

"Now, I'll rig the Kraang gun in 90 seconds to overheat the tanks for this place to explode." Ariana explained.

Ariana sprang up high in the air and struck the Kraang gun to the tank as the K-5 and Norbit exited the room and headed back to the Magnolia Torpedo just before the chemical tank exploded the Kraang facility.

"Heh, that wasn't so bad." Camilla said as she was stretching her arms.

"I'll say." Ariana said as she made her way to the control keyboard.

Ezra then saw something coming straight towards the Magnolia Torpedo at full speed.

"Ariana?!" Ezra gulped.

Ariana looked out the window and widened her eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ariana shouted.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Norbit looked at the view screen to notice the sea monster swimming its way towards them.

"Uh, Ariana, do you have a quick plan on this?" Kirana shouted.

"Yup!" Ariana shouted back.

Ariana pressed an aquamarine button and the turbo engines revved up, causing the Magnolia Torpedo to sped faster from the sea creature. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit fell to the floor due to the speed impact. The Magnolia Torpedo shot off away out of sight, leaving the sea creature roar in anger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After slashing their weapons continuously while moving out of the entrance to the alley, Casey and Kuro became exhausted from all the fighting as they both struggled to stand up off the ground.

"That was a great fight, Kuro. You got some wicked moves." Casey said.

Casey slowly got up from the ground and moved forward towards Kuro with his hand extending out.

"You got some cool moves yourself, Casey." Kuro smiled as he took Casey's hand to be lifted up back on his feet. "You have proven to be very impressive."

"Thanks, but there's one thing I don't get." Casey said. "You're the son of the leader of the Shadow Clan, trained by your mother herself, and yet you become a secret ally to my friends. Why?"

"I don't know." Kuro replied with a shrug. "She may have raised me ever since I lost my father, but I'm still confused about my life in the past."

"Whoa, really? You lost your father?" Casey asked with wide eyes.

"My mother told me that her old rival killed him when I was just a little kid." Kuro explained. "But I started having strange memories about me and my dad when Kirana, her siblings, and her mother were around."

"So, you think you're somehow related to Kirana and her family?" Casey asked.

"Maybe. I don't know." Kuro responded with a shrug. "It's complicated, but I'm gonna find out myself."

"But what about Lady Shade?" Casey asked again. "Will she harm you when she finds out about your memories and you didn't capture me for her plans?"

"I can always make false excuses to her. She might never know about my memories. It's a secret that I intend to keep for myself." Kuro replied. He then let out a smirk. "I'll see you around, but next time we'll fight more."

"Definitely looking forward to it." Casey smiled.

With a friendly smile, Kuro vanished into the dark energy portal below him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 made their way out of the Magnolia Torpedo as they felt dizzy from the engine speed back at the ocean. They heard the loud sound of the K-Phone that made Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit turn their heads to Ariana, who took her K-phone and placed it on her right ear.

"Casey?" Ariana answered.

"What up, Ariana?" Casey said through the phone.

"Casey! Thank goodness!" Ariana smiled. Her voice quickly went serious. "You got some explaining to do, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." Casey chuckled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 sat on the couch and Sage stood behind the couch as they all listened to Casey's involvement with Kuro.

"After slashing our weapons at each other, we call it a truce and parted ways." Casey finished with a cocky smile.

"Way to go, Casey!" Ezra applaud.

"Awesome!" Ariana smiled.

"You totally rocked!" Talia cheered.

"Seriously kick butt, dude." Camilla praised.

"Wicked moves, Jones." Kirana grinned.

"That is excellent combat." Norbit said.

"I'm very impress, Casey." Sage said with a smile.

"Thanks, guys." Casey grinned.

"Even though, I'm surprised that Kuro didn't turn you in to Lady Shade." Sage said with a serious tone in her voice. "But if Lady Shade wants you to lure us out, she will stop at nothing to find you."

"What?" Casey exclaimed. "So, what am I suppose to do if I can't fight her?"

"Not to worry. I have been working on it for such an occasion." Ariana assured. "I've invented a holographic ring to alter Casey's appearance, so only the Shadow clan recognize him."

"Also, we got your back all the way, Casey." Kirana said firmly.

"We're not going down without a fight." Ezra said.

"Let's do this." Casey said with a determined smile.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

On a dark night, the K-5 began fighting against a squad of Shadow Ninjas on a building rooftop. They have easily took all of them down with ease as they looked down at them with smirks in their faces.

"Normally, I can do this all night, but they're just no good enough to beat us." Camilla said with a smile. "If they can't take us seriously, then I'll have to break them."

"Clearly, their timing do need some work." Ezra grinned.

"Yeah, I honestly thought they have improved from our past fights." Talia snickered. "But I didn't think they looked this sad."

"I can't believe that the Shadow Ninjas weren't fighting at full strength." Kirana said curiously as she placed her hands on her hips. "The question is why?"

Kirana closed her eyes and focused on her powers to sense auras around the area until she detected a familiar aura from her power. She looked at the street on the edge of the rooftop and saw someone down below.

"Hey, guys. You gonna have to see this." Kirana said.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra joined their older sister as they looked at the alleyway to see a Shadow ninja staring at the TCRI.

"Is this a Shadow Ninja?" Talia whispered.

"But it's just one kunoichi. I don't get it." Camilla said with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe she's on a lookout for her crew." Ariana said with a shrug.

"Anyone find this girl kinda fearless?" Ezra asked.

"Only one way to find out." Kirana said. "Let's go."

The K-5 jumped down in an alley and dashed toward the kunoichi. But they unexpectedly got surrounded by another squad of Shadow Ninjas. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra summoned their elemental magic in fighting stances.

"This is gonna be the best night ever!" Camilla smiled.

The K-5 charged forward to attack the Shadow Ninjas as they easily took them down in seconds. One of the Shadow Ninjas made hand signals for retreat and the rest of Shadow Ninjas were gone.

"Did that anyone find that weird?" Kirana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Beats me." Talia said with a shrug.

"Guys?"

"Who said that?" Ezra asked.

The K-5 turned around to face a masked kunoichi, who removed her ninja mask and revealed herself with a happy smiling face.

"Sandra?" Ariana gasped.

"Hey, guys!" Sandra greeted with a smile. "I've never thought I'd see you five again."

"Sandra, what are you doing with the Shadow Clan?" Camilla demanded.

"Well, I was exploring around the city like I always do." Sandra explained. "So, I joined Scarlett's dojo for my fighting style. Then, they asked me if I wanted to join the Shadow Clan and I accept."

The K-5 stared at Sandra in shock by the ultraviolet mage's story.

"Wow." Talia remarked. "That was unexpected."

"But I've only been with them a few days." Sandra added. "But when I realize the true meaning of the Shadow Clan, I've decided to spy on their plans and missions just in case I meet you five again."

"So why are the Shadow fighting the Kraang?" Kirana asked.

"That I don't know, but I could gather information for you." Sandra said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Sandra?" Ariana asked. "The Shadow Clan are not that easily fooled."

"I'm sure, Ariana." Sandra said reassuringly as she put on her mask. "I'll send you important intel through text when they tell me their next mission. See ya around."

Sandra sprang high in the air out of sight.

"Feels like the Shadow could do something else that's bad." Ezra thought. "But what?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, the K-5 reported their mission to Sage in the dojo. But their mother wasn't looking very proud by her daughters' mission in the city.

"It's somewhat suprising you all have took down much of the Shadow Clan without any problem." Sage said firmly.

"But how's that a bad thing?" Camilla asked.

"Because you all can't afford to be complacent about your missions." Sage replied with narrow eyes. "Each of you has become dependent on your own powers. But there are times when you may not be able to fight with your powers. And when that happens, you must adapt to your environment for a kunoichi."

"So, what can we do?" Kirana asked.

"To embrace the unfamiliar, switch elemental magic!" Sage instructed.

The K-5's eyes widened in surprise as they knew that they have never trained with each other's magic before. But they hesitantly obeyed their mother as they gathered together in a circle to perform a spell.

"Suitchi pawā." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra chanted.

At their words, five colorful auras rose out of the mages' bodies and zoomed through each other. Kirana got Camilla's fire magic, Camilla got Ezra's lightning magic, Ariana got Talia's air magic, Talia got Kirana's water magic, and Ezra got Ariana's earth magic.

"Cool! I got Kirana's magic!" Talia smiled as she summoned a stream of water with the wave of her hands.

"Now, face each other." Sage instructed again.

The K-5 got into their new fighting stances as Kirana and Camilla faced each other while Ariana and Talia faced each other, leaving Ezra to face his mother.

"Hajime!" Sage ordered.

The K-5 dashed toward each other, but they all are having trouble with their switched magic. Ariana created a soft whirlwind under her legs to float slowly and got tangled herself up with a tornado. Ezra formed a wall made of earth on the floor and got himself slammed hard to the ceiling. Talia created a barrier of water that surrounded her body, but she ended up enveloping in water and held in her breath. Kirana was having trouble extending a small ball of fire in her hands and ended up caught in an unexpected explosion. And Camilla formed to balls of lightning but it shocked herself to much.

"Yame." Sage ordered. "Learning this lesson will teach you about resourcefulness and versatility. As from now on, you four will continue to fight this way."

Then, Sage walked toward her room.

Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra got up from the floor. Talia dropped the water barrier and fell on the floor to catch deep breaths. Kirana instantly fell to the floor and groaned in pain after the wall dropped down to the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the living room, the K-5 are still working on understanding how their new magic develop. Talia shaped a small ball of water into any form with her hands. Ezra summoned two long plant vines come out of his palms and began lashing at the wall. Ariana moved her hands to create a miniature tornado without losing control. Kirana created a red-orange fireball in between her hands. Camilla created a zap of lightning from her fingers.

Suddenly, Ariana heard her K-Phone vibrating and checked the notification.

"It's a text message from Sandra." Ariana said in alert.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra gathered around Ariana, who was reading the text mesaage on her cell phone.

"Sandra is telling us where the Shadow are gonna strike next." Ariana informed.

"That girl sure knows her way of being a secret spy." Camilla said with a smile.

"I just hope she's doing alright without getting caught." Ezra said.

"All right, we'll follow up on her lead, and then bust her out of the Shadow Clan." Kirana said. "Let's go."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra immediately exited the fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Sandra pressed herself against the wall as she was looking around the alleyway until Ariana grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the K-5.

"Hey, you got my message." Sandra grinned. "I have some important information for you."

Suddenly, Inque and Masque stood in front of the K-5 as they blocked the exit of the alley. The Shadow Ninjas came down from the rooftop and surrounded the four mage kunoichis and mage ninja.

"I did not see this coming." Camilla noted.

"Help! The K-5 got me!" Sandra shouted. She turned to the K-5 in a low whisper. "Sorry, but I can't blow my cover."

Sandra jumped behind the dumpster, leaving the K-5 to prepare for a battle.

"Get ready!" Kirana ordered her siblings.

The K-5 summoned their new powers and charged forward to battle the Shadow Clan warriors. Ezra summoned five long earth spikes to pierce Inque from all sides, but Inque slithered past the earth spikes in a nick of speed and swung her giant fists that sent Ezra flying to the alley wall. Ariana dashed towards Masque and created several blades of wind at the ghost mage mutant, who ignored the wind blades through her by making her entire body intangible and then fired a huge ghost white energy blast from her hands that sent Ariana flying straight to Ezra. Talia created multiple rings of water around her body and shot each one at the Shadow Ninjas, but one of the Shadow Ninjas delivered a swift back kick that sent her flying into Ariana and Ezra. Kirana released a spiraling red-orange flame at the Shadow Ninjas one by one from her hands until she got smacked into her downed siblings by one of the Shadow Ninjas, who delivered a strong swing from her swift kick. Camilla blasted five bolts of lightning from her fingers at the Shadow Ninjas, but they managed to dodge the bolts and knocked Camilla to her downed siblings. The K-5 fell to the ground and quickly got back up on their feet.

"Okay, this is so not working." Ariana said.

"Yeah, there's no way we can't fight like this." Ezra agreed.

"Switch magic!" Kirana ordered her siblings.

The K-5 huddled together to cast a spell again.

"Ribāsu Taikoku!" The K-5 chanted.

The five colorful auras rose out of the mages' bodies and zoomed back through the owner's body. After the spell was complete, the K-5 jumped into battle and finally knocked out all of the Shadow Ninjas in quick seconds.

"Now, this is what I'm talking about!" Talia cheered.

"Oh, yeah, baby." Camilla smiled.

The K-5 charged forward and defeated two Shadow Clan mage mutants. Then suddenly, a white van showed up at the exit of the alley. Inque, Masque, and the rest of the Shadow Ninjas got inside the van together. The K-5 chased after them, but they drove away. Not long when Donna stomped her left foot on the ground to pick up any vibration activities in the van. Ezra detected something glowing in the van from a far view.

"Ari? I think we found a problem." Ezra said.

"So, that's Lady Shade's plan!" Ariana cried. "She's commanding the Shadow to steal mutagen!"

"Oh, that can't be good." Camilla said.

"You can come out now, Sandra." Talia said to Sandra. "The Shadow are gone."

"Oh good." Sandra said as she moved away from her hiding spot and confronted the K-5. "And it's true. Lady Shade is gonna use the mutagen to create a mage mutant army to destroy all of you, but I believe there's a lot more to it than that."

"I knew it." Ariana said.

"Sandra, find out more about Shade's mutation plan for more info." Kirana said to Sandra.

"And be careful." Ezra informed.

"Okay, I'm on it." Sandra said with a nod.

Sandra sprang high in the air to the rooftop and left out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K-5 returned to the Crete Fortress and they sat on the couch together while cheering with excitement. Sage stood right in front of her children, causing them to jump when they saw her. They can tell that their mother's face was not too promising.

"So, all of you did not understand my lesson." Sage said.

"But we just don't get it, mother." Camilla protested. "Switching magic isn't really helping us in a fight with the Shadow Clan. We're better off with our own magic."

"Well, since you all didn't follow the point of the lesson, you will learn how to adapt by having no magic." Sage said sternly.

"What?!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra gasped.

"Starting now!" Sage said. "Henkan Taikoku Ni Heiki!"

At her words, a tangle of white ribbons was released from Sage's right hand and phased through her children's chests. Five colorful auras rose out of the mages' bodies and began taking shapes as five glowing orbs.

After the spell was complete, Sage turned around and walked off into the dojo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Shadow Clan HQ, Inque and Masque walked inside the throne room as the Shadow Ninjas brought the canisters of the mutagen behind them. Lady Shade was very pleased for her successing plan.

"Lead the Shadow to the warehouse. We will begin our first mutation experiment with that newbie Sandra." Lady Shade instructed.

"Kraang is giving, that which is known as, a warning." The broken Kraang warned. "The Mutagen is unstable in this dimension. The results desired may not be the results, that result from the actions taken by the one known as Shade."

"Make sure everything is put in place." Lady Shade ordered.

Inque and Masque bowed as they exited the throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 were minding their own business. Kirana was watching Battlestar Matrix. Talia was reading her comic book. Ezra was listening to music on his K-Phone. Ariana was sketching her new invention. And Camilla was working out with dumbbells.

Suddenly, Ariana's K-Phone started ringing and Ariana picked it up and looked at the caller ID.

"Hey, it's Sandra." Ariana said to her siblings.

Ariana answered her K-Phone and put it on speaker as Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra gathered around Ariana.

"Guys, I think I'm in deep trouble now." Sandra's voice spoke.

"What's going on, Sandra?" Ariana asked with worry.

"The Shadow Clan is performing a mutation experiment on Canal Street." Sandra informed. "They're on their way there right now. The problem is that Shade's gonna mutate one Shadow Ninjas as a test subject...and I'm the test subject."

"What?!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Sandra, the mutagen is extremely dangerous! The results can react badly on you!" Ariana said in worry.

"But I can't escape. They tied me up with an unbreakable rope spell. Please help me." Sandra said. "Oh, gotta go."

With that, Sandra hung up her cell phone.

"I knew something bad was gonna happen." Ezra said.

"She's in trouble! We have to help her." Ariana said.

"Let's go!" Kirana said determinedly.

The K-5 quickly headed to the garage and got inside the Sonicruiser.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the Sonicruiser drove through the city streets and finally tracked down a group of Shadow Clan riding motorcycles. Masque led her team with Sandra on her motorcycle.

"Shadow at ten o' clock!" Ezra said in alert.

Kirana slammed her right boot on the gas pedal and the Sonicruiser drove forward to the Shadow Clan motorcycles. As Kirana pressed a yellow button, the Sonicruiser blasted the Shadow Ninjas with laser cannons. Masque looked back at her fallen team and spun her motorcycle to face the Sonicruiser.

"It's Masque!" Talia shouted as she looked at the view screen.

"I got her at my sight!" Camilla grinned.

Camilla fired the laser cannon at Masque from her station, but Masque launched herself into the air to avoid the lasers and landed on her feet on the roof of the Sonicruiser.

"She's on the roof!" Kirana said.

"She's mine!" Camilla said.

But Masque blasted a ghost white energy bolt to destroy one of the tires, causing the Sonicruiser to start drive out of control as Kirana was trying to keep the vehicle steady on the road. The Sonicruiser flipped over in the air and fell on its side in the alleyway. The K-5 exited the Sonicruiser and watched Masque flew back on her motorcycle as the ghost mage mutant drove off out of sight.

"Great." Talia said with a heavy sigh. "Now, what are we gonna do?"

"We gotta go help her, of course." Ariana said determinedly.

Ariana released the Nitro Bike from the Sonicruiser and quickly followed after Masque.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few minutes of driving, Ariana arrived at the warehouse and revved her Nitro Bike charged through the window. She jumped off the motorcycle and landed on her feet as the motorcycle landed on the ground near the wall. Ariana tackled Sandra away from the mutagen and landed on a group of creates.

"Thanks, Ariana." Sandra smiled.

Inque and Masque looked at the mages, who got into their fighting stances.

"Get them!" Inque ordered the Shadow ninjas.

Ariana aimed her hands down at the charging Shadow Clan, but she can't unleash her magic.

"Oh right!" Ariana groaned in realization.

"What happened to your magic?" Sandra asked.

"Long story." Ariana replied. She took out a short samurai sword from her belt and held it tight in her hands. "But this should do just fine for now."

Ariana leapt into the air and swung her sword blade while Sandra swiftly released large spheres of green ultraviolet energy at the Shadow Ninjas. Inque quickly wrapped herself around Sandra tightly and Masque created a large ghost white force field to prevent Ariana from saving her friend.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra suddenly crashed through the windows and landed themselves on the ground. They summoned their elemental magic, but they remembered their mother took their magic away. Ezra realized that he still had his sorcerer magic to summon.

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Kirana said with a sigh. "Ariana!"

Ariana nodded her head and took three short samurai swords from her belt before throwing them at her sisters. Three mages grabbed the swords in their hands and began taking down two mage mutants to free two mystics. Kirana rushed towards Inque and slashed Inque repeatedly with her sword blade. Talia unleashed a tornado of her sword blade strikes and hit Inque to the ground with a powerful thrusting kick. Camilla sprang high into the air and began jabbing her sword blade down at Masque repeatedly. Ariana spun her sword blade in circular motions to strike the ghost mage mutant repeatedly with multi-hitting strikes. Ezra summoned teal energy balls to strike the two mage mutants. Sandra fired a huge beam of green ultraviolet energy at Inque and Masque that sent them to the wall. But Inque was able to lift Ariana up in the air with her long tentacle and flung the purple mystic kunoichi to the platform.

"Ariana, no!" Sandra shouted as she started running forward to Ariana.

Ariana looked up at the vat of mutagen with wide eyes. As Inque pulled on the release lever with her tentacle, Sandra pushed Ariana away from the tank and allowed herself to be covered with the ooze from the tank.

"Sandra! No!" Ariana cried.

Sandra screamed in pain and started changing into her mutant form. The K-5 became distracted by Sandra's mutation, allowing Inque and Masque to escape out of the warehouse along with the rest of the Shadow Ninjas. Sandra knelt on her knees and took a few deep breaths from her transformation. Sandra's entire body became bright green skin with sparkling dark green hair and neon green eyes.

"O. M. G!" Camilla gasped.

"Oh, no." Ezra said.

"Sandra sacrificed her life to save me." Ariana said.

"And now we got to fight her." Kirana added.

"But we can't fight her. She's our friend!" Talia said.

Sandra started walking towards the K-5, who quickly backed up and climbed on top of the crates.

"Seriously, guys, we can't fight her like this!" Talia said.

"We don't. I have to distract her." Ariana said. "I'll snap her out while you three restrain her. Ezra, I'm gonna need a new spell."

"You got it, sis." Ezra nodded.

Ariana sprang up from the crates and landed behind Sandra, who stopped walking slowly and turned her attention to the purple mage kunoichi. Kirana, Camilla, and Talia threw long steel chains from their waist belts at the ultraviolet mystic mutant. Sandra roared as she was struggling to break free from the chains.

"Sandra, it's me! Ariana!" Ariana called softly.

Sandra stopped struggling and looked into Ariana's eyes.

"You remember, don't you?" Ariana said as she gently approached to Sandra. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. I promise you."

Sandra looked at her reflection in the windows and touched her face in sadness. She then turned to Ariana and rested her head to the purple mage's chest. Ariana jumped a bit and hugged Sandra with comfort. Ezra frowned for his sister's friend and used a teleportation spell to transport the K-5 and Sandra through a teal portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 and Sage watched Sandra sleeping peacefully in her capsule inside Ariana's lab after Kirana explained the mission to Sage.

"Do you think Sandra will recover in her new form?" Saldana asked.

"Hope so." Kirana replied with a sigh.

Talia stared worryingly at the sleeping Sandra.

"Ariana, you may want to look after Sandra in your lab." Camilla said as she looked at Ariana. "Because I couldn't stand see her in this condition."

"Don't worry, Sandra." Ariana said as she placed her hand on the glass. "I promise to turn you back. You can count me."

Sandra somewhat heard Ariana's words and formed a tiny smile on her face. Ezra gave Ariana a hug for comfort.

"Never give up, Ariana." Ezra said.

That made Ariana smile a little and hug her brother back:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in Shadow Clan HQ, Inque and Masque had returned to report their failing mission to Lady Shade in the main room.

"Because of the K-5's interference, our mutagen supply was lost." Inque explained.

"They have ruined my plans on building my mutant army for the last time." Lady Shade snarled.

"Kraang is in, what is known as, agreement. The ones, known as the K-5, must become, known as the K-5 who are, destroyed." The broken Kraang droid spoke.

"Looks like we have a common enemy." Lady Shade grinned as she looked at the Kraang droid. "I'm planning on enjoying this partnership."


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

On a dark night, the K-5 are heading toward the Kraang lab in the Sonicruiser. They heard about the Kraang experimenting in an apartment building on Ariana's Kraang radar, so they decided to go to the city for a checkout.

"Talia, are we close to the lab?" Kirana asked as she looked back at Talia's station.

"Turn right to the next four blocks and we'll be there." Talia said as she stared at the map.

As Kirana turned the Sonicruiser to four blocks up ahead, the K-5 finally arrived at the apartment building and parked the vehicle into the alleyway.

"Yup, this is the hidden Kraang lab alright." Ariana said as she looked at the view screen from her station.

"It looks like the lights still on." Ezra commented.

"Let's find out what the Kraang are up to and blow up the joint." Kirana said.

"That's what I'm waiting for." Camilla grinned.

The K-5 exited the Sonicruiser and walked through the portal that Kirana created into the apartment building, where they found the entire place was trashed with empty mutagen canisters, broken Kraang droids, and scattered overturned tables.

"Whoa. What a mess." Talia said.

"Yeah, we miss all the fun." Camilla said with a groan.

The K-5 looked around the place to see more empty mutagen canisters on some of the standing tables.

"It looks like their mutagen experiments took all of them down." Kirana said.

"Found one of them." Ezra said as he found a document folder which Ariana took a look with her younger brother.

"They are actually experiments on mystical creatures." Ariana informed as she studied the document and a group of poster charts on all types of rare mystical creatures on the bulletin board. "Some of them are extremely rare that not even I heard about."

Talia walked over to a nearby cabinet and opened it up to see good conditioned science equipment. She took out a centrifuge in her hands and heard something that made her look at the shadows above the team.

"Uh Ariana, will one of the rare mystical creature look like centipedes?" Talia asked.

"Yeah. They are called Fuketsunas." Ariana answered. "Why you ask?"

"Will that be it?!" Talia shouted, pointing her index finger to the shadows.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra followed Talia's pointed finger and looked up to see a centipede-like creature crawling out of the shadows. It was pale green-grey with black eyes, a dark blue nose, and four pairs of white inner legs. Its head also has a shape of a crown. It dropped down to the floor on its legs and began charging to attack the K-5.

"Gangway!" Kirana yelled.

The K-5 quickly dodged away from Fuketsuna, who turned around and charged toward the K-5 again. Kirana, Talia, Ezra, Ariana, and Camilla moved aside to hide behind the overturned table as Fuketsuna started searching around for them.

"We need a plan and fast." Kirana said.

"I got one. I'll chained that thing down while you four attack." Talia suggested. "All I have to do is get its attention."

"Okay, go for it." Kirana said.

Talia jumped from the table and moved behind Fuketsuna, causing the creature to his attention to the orange mage kunoichi. Before the creature could attack, Talia swiftly shot long chains made of solid air from her hands and launched it to restrain Fuketsuna tight with her strength.

"Now!" Kirana called.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra jumped to capture the creature, but Fuketsuna started crawling around that forced Talia to fly into the wall. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra immediately ducked down to watch their orange mage sister groan in pain. Ariana sculpted a large fist from the ground to attack Fuketsuna, but the creature avoided the fist and crawled away as the fist started following after its movements by the purple mage kunoichi's command. Camilla extended her hands upwards to conjure a large ball of fire and then threw it at the creature. Fuketsuna dodged the attack and slithered past both Ariana and Camilla, causing the earthly fist to hit into the two mages and threw them on top of Talia. Ezra conjured a set of arrows made of lightning and shot them at the creature. Fuketsuna avoided the arrows and knocked Ezra down to his sisters. Kirana swiftly summoned a stream of big bubbles from her hands at the creature multiple times, but Fuketsuna started charging forward to the blue mage kunoichi while avoiding the stream at the same time. Fuketsuna jumped above Kirana and attached itself on her face. As Kirana was trying to get the creature off, Fuketsuna bit Kirana's neck sharply and suddenly fell dead to the ground.

"Uh, what just happen?" Ezra asked as he and his three older sisters got up from the floor.

"I don't know." Talia said. "Ariana?"

"Fuketsuna just died when it did something to Kirana." Ariana said.

"Yeah. It bit me on the neck." Kirana said as she showed a white inner spiral mark to her siblings. "It stings so bad."

"Let me see." Ariana said as she walked over to Kirana for a closer look on the mark. "That's strange. Normally, Fuketsuna never died instantly after biting their enemies. How do you feel, Kirana?"

"Still feeling burn, but I'll be fine." Kirana replied.

"Are you sure?" Talia said. She started to move closer to Kirana. "Because it looks pretty nasty."

"Don't touch me!" Kirana snapped with a glare.

Talia stepped back away from Kirana. Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked at each other, knowing that something's really odd about Kirana's sudden behavior.

"Kirana, are you alright?" Camilla asked in a worried tone. "'Usually unmotivated bursts of anger is normally my job."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I really need to lay down." Kirana said calmly. "Let's go home."

With that, Kirana walked towards the opening portal she conjured up to the wall. Talia, Ezra, Camilla, and Ariana stared at Kirana with worried eyes as they followed after their oldest sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, four mages took Kirana into the lab as Ariana stared closely at the mark on Kirana's neck. Camilla and Talia leaned against the lab door while Ezra stood by the table to watch Ariana examining Kirana's neck.

"Fascinating." Ariana breathed with a smile. "Truly fascianting. Who knew the Fuketsuna are evolving in this century?"

Ariana conjured up a scalpel in her hand, causing Kirana's eyes to widen wide in alert.

"Wait a minute! What are you think you're doing?" Kirana shouted.

"Dissecting your scar." Ariana answered simply.

"Absolutely not!" Kirana snapped as she pushed Ariana away from her. "I'm gonna mediate on this problem that way I'll figure out the effect faster."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Ariana detected white inner veins surging slowly from the mark on Kirana's neck.

"Okay, okay." Ariana said with a shrug. "I'll leave you alone."

"Good idea." Kirana said with a nod. She pointed her index finger to the lab door. "Now, get out."

Ariana stepped away and stared at the mark. Kirana sharped her glare, making her four younger siblings step out of the lab in quick speed. Kirana sat on the floor and started mediating with her powers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra gathered together into the kitchen without Kirana hearing their conservation.

"Okay, Kirana is seriously acting weird." Ariana said.

"Yeah. It's like she's becoming dangerous from that mark on her neck." Camilla said.

"We should ask mom about this problem." Talia suggested.

"No can do." Ezra said. "She took Casey and Norbit out for a training exercise in her pocket dimension. They won't be back until tomorrow."

"Okay, it's official. We gotta cure that mark before it changes our sister." Camilla said.

"How are we gonna do that? If we get anywhere near her, who knows when she can do to us." Ariana noted.

"Or maybe we make her comes to us instead." Talia suggested.

"I agree, but we gotta think of a plan." Ezra agreed.

Camilla, Ariana, and Talia nodded their heads in agreement.

Unknown to her younger siblings, Kirana overheard the conservation from Ariana's lab and felt a strange sharp pain from her neck, causing the white inner veins to grow rapidly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, Kirana's younger siblings have tried anything to get their oldest sister's attention, but none of their plans have worked on Kirana at all. Talia came up with her pizza idea, but Kirana wasn't responding. Then, the mages went with Camilla's idea: Battlestar Matrix because they know that Kirana never misses an episode. But Kirana still didn't respond to her favorite tv show. Finally, Ariana remembered that Kirana had a collection of Battlestar Matrix comic books, especially one special edition that she won't let her younger siblings touch. But once again, Kirana stayed focused on her meditation.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra finally returned into the kitchen.

"We've tried everything to get Kirana's attention and still nothing." Ariana noted.

"And I've had it. If we can't get Kirana to come to us, then I'm gonna go to her. Alone!" Camilla said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as her younger siblings were asleep, Camilla snuck quietly out of her room and made her way to the lab. Camilla opened the doors and saw her older sister meditating in mid-air. She drew flames from her left hand and approached the blue mage kunoichi. Before Camilla could aim her flaming hand to burn the infested mark, Kirana suddenly caught Camilla's hand with her own.

"Kirana, what are you doing?" Camilla asked. "I'm trying to help you."

Kirana looked at Camilla with a silent stare. Her eyes were pale green-grey and white inner veins appeared over all her body. Kirana threw Camilla away from over her shoulder.

"Look, you have to snap out of it. I don't want to fight you as much as I want to." Camilla said to Kirana.

"Now, here's your chance, sister." Kirana snarled.

Camilla charged forward towards Kirana and fired a number of rapid fierce red-orange flaming spheres at her older sister, but Kirana blocked the attack with a solid water shield and moved forward to slash Camilla with her razor-sharp water claws. But Camilla was able to backflip away from Kirana in a nick of time.

"Snap out of it, Kirana!" Camilla shouted. "Let me help you."

But Kirana wasn't listening. She charged forward and swiped her arm to release scythe-like blades of water at Camilla, but the red mage kunoichi blocked the attack with a flaming force field. Kirana created a large sphere of water that instantly trapped Camilla inside. Kirana slowly moved closer into the water sphere and her claws slowly changed into pale green-grey. Camilla felt a sharp pain and punched Kirana off the water sphere, causing the water sphere to disappear from thin air. Kirana stood up from the floor. Camilla looked at her right arm and saw a slash mark before looking at Kirana.

"You didn't!" Camilla said.

Kirana smiled sinisterly as her response.

"You did!" Camilla shouted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra exited their rooms as they began stretching on a quiet morning. But Ariana noticed that Camilla wasn't in her bedroom.

"Hey, where's Camilla?" Ariana asked.

"She was going to check on Kirana last night." Talia replied.

Ariana, Talia, and Talia walked over to the lab. They peeked through the slightly opened door and saw that Camilla meditating in mid-air with Kirana.

"Oh, this can't be good." Ezra groaned.

Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quietly entered inside the lab, but Kirana and Camilla immediately sensed their younger siblings that made them summon their magic.

"Oh, hey, girls? What's sup?" Ariana chuckled nervously.

"Ariana, something's definitely wrong with them." Talia whispered.

Ezra looked at Camilla's arm and gasped at what Talia just said.

"Look at Camilla's arm." Ezra whispered.

Ariana and Talia looked to see a slash mark on Camilla's arm and then noticed her older sister's eyes were pale green-grey just like Kirana's.

"Oh no. Kirana must've clawed Camilla." Ariana whispered back.

"Girls, snap out of it! You have to fight it!" Talia said.

As Ariana, Talia, and Ezra backed away from their older sisters, Kirana and Camilla charged forward towards them with dangerous growls. Ariana, Talia, and Ezra ran quickly out of the lab as Ariana closed the doors and Talia used her magic to lock the door shut.

"That should hold them for now." Ariana sighed in relief.

"Guys..." Ezra said, slowly. "I got clawed..."

Ezra showed his leg to Ariana and Talia, to reveal a slash mark on his knee.

"Oh, no." Talia said. "Ariana, we need something to fix this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kirana and Camilla started banging on the door, Ariana conjured her laptop into the kitchen and opened up the document about Fuketsunas on the screen. Ezra was struggling to contain himself before turning.

"Here it is. The Fuketsuna infects creatures by entering itself into individuals' bodies in microscopic size and infects them with an unique virus." Ariana said. "But the Fuketsuna we saw was a mutant version. Kirana slashed Camilla and infected her with the virus. And either one of them infected Ezra with the virus."

"I'm starting to lose myself..." Ezra groaned.

"Just hang in there for a little longer, Ezra." Talia told Ezra. She then turned to Ariana. "Will they go back to normal?"

"Not quite." Ariana replied. "As the virus continues to infect them, they become Fuketsuna humanoids themselves."

"We can't let that happen!" Talia gasped in shock. "What can we do?"

"Simple. I can create an antibody to cure them." Ariana replied. "But, I need a sample of the virus from the mark."

Ariana and Talia suddenly heard the lab doors banging even louder. They ran out of the kitchen and headed into the living room to see Kirana and Camilla finally broke out of the lab with their elemental magic.

"Guys...go..." Ezra screamed in pain.

Suddenly, Ezra's eyes turned pale green-grey and he smirked evilly as he summoned his elemental magic.

"Run." Ezra said, evilly.

Kirana jumped to attack Ariana, but Ariana dodged away from her older sister and summoned five large arms made of earth that held Kirana tight from all sides. Camilla jumped to attack Talia, who created several blades of wind that attacked Camilla that sent her straight to the wall.

"Talia, where's Camilla and Ezra?" Ariana asked.

"I took Camilla down over there. But I don't know where Ezra went." Talia said, pointing her index finger to the wall. She looked at the wall and noticed that Camilla was gone. "Oh no. She was right there. Where did she go?"

"We can worry about her later." Ariana said. "Kirana is the best chance to create the antibody."

Kirana was struggling to get free while using her magic to attack Ariana and Talia, forcing them to step back to avoid the attack.

"It is useless to resist. It is only a matter of time before the virus spreads and we will become viruses ourselves!" Kirana spoke in a distorted voice.

Ariana punched Kirana's face hard, knocking the blue mage's kunoichi unconscious.

"Sorry, Kirana. But I need a sample of your blood to create a cure." Ariana said.

Ariana inserted the syringe in Kirana's neck mark. Talia looked over at Ariana's left arm and saw a white inner mark on it.

"Oh no! Ariana, you have a mark on your arm!" Talia shouted, pointing her index finger at the mark.

Ariana looked down on her left arm and saw the white inner mark as well.

"I must have gotten during the fight with Kirana." Ariana said with wide eyes. "Now, I'm infected as well."

Talia whimpered in a mix of fear and worry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the lab, Ariana began working on the antibody. But she was starting to panic as the mark was starting to effect her on her left arm.

"I'm not gonna make it!" Ariana whimpered. "I'm not gonna make it!"

"But you're almost done." Talia said.

"Talia, you have to help me." Ariana said as she looked up to Talia. "I could already feel the mark effecting my mind. I need you to finish the antibody yourself!"

"Wait. Me? Finish the antibody? But you know, I'm not good with that kind of stuff." Talia said.

"Please, Talia!" Ariana pleaded. "It's up to you to cure me and our siblings."

"Okay, I'll do it! So what should I do?" Talia asked.

"First, the hybridoma culture has to incubate for ten minutes. And then it has to spin in the centrifuge for another five." Ariana explained. She suddenly started clutching her head in pain. "There's no time. Knock me out now!"

Talia swung her right leg at Ariana's face, but Ariana caught Talia's leg instantly. Her eyes are now pale green-grey like Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra's. Ariana pulled Talia forward and bit her on the neck. Talia screamed and swung her other leg, knocking her older sister out in the process.

"Oh no. I'm infected too." Talia yelped as she touched the mark on her neck. She looked at the centrifuge immediately. "I can do this. Gotta remember what Ariana said."

Talia moved forward to the table, but she started to feel a little dizzy.

"Oh...not...now..." Talia murmured.

Talia collapsed on the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana used her earth magic to release Kirana from the large earth hands in the living room. Camilla and Ezra helped Kirana up from the floor.

"Where's Talia?" Camilla asked.

"I turned her into one of us." Ariana replied. "The infection should control her mind momentarily."

Camilla, Kirana, Ezra, and Ariana gathered together in a circle. They heard footsteps coming from the lab and looked to see Talia walking into the living room in front of them.

"Glad you have come to join us, Talia." Kirana said with a smile.

"Yes, I finally understand the true purpose from the virus." Talia droned.

"Our mark is finishing the infection." Ezra said in alert.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra noticed the marks are turning their skins pale green-grey.

"To be one with the Fuketsunas." Kirana said in awe.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra closed their eyes as they are ready to become Fuketsuna humanoids. Then suddenly, they felt the antibody injecting in their marks and turned to see Talia was holding a syringe gun.

"What are you doing?" Camilla asked.

"Saving your lives, that's what!" Talia replied with a grin.

"Ariana, you said Talia was one of us." Ezra said as she looked at Ariana. "You bit her and gave the infected mark."

"What do you mean? I did." Ariana answered.

"Yes, she did." Talia grinned. She then recollected his thoughts and remembered completing the antibody without any accidents. "Even though I almost passed out twenty-five times, I was able to finish making the antibody."

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra's eyes returned to normal after they have listened Talia's story.

"So you finished the antibody without any problems?" Ariana asked.

"And pretend to be infected to cure us?" Kirana concluded.

"That was the plan!" Talia answered with a smile.

"Well, thanks for saving us, Talia." Ezra said.

"Then, why I feel so tired?" Camilla groaned.

"Oh, yeah, it cause drowsiness." Talia replied.

"Now you...tell us..." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra groaned.

Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra collapsed on the ground as they fell asleep on the floor.

Suddenly, the marks on the sleeping mages' necks started moving from the skins and formed together into a huge Fuketsuna.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" Talia exclaimed in shock. She started shaking her older sisters and younger brother to get them to wake up. "Girls! Ezra! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!"

The huge Fuketsuna started to attack Talia, but the orange mage kunoichi jumped out of the way and quickly ran for the Sonicruiser to hide inside. The Fuketsuna followed after Talia and began jabbing its white inner legs through the doors. Talia hopped into the driver's seat and tried starting the Sonicruiser, but the vehicle didn't powered up its engines.

"Oh, come on!" Talia muttered.

"Hey, freak! Leave our sister alone!"

The Fuketsuna turned its attention to Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra. Talia looked at the view screen to see her older sisters and younger brother woke up from the drowsiness. The Fuketsuna sprang high in the air and started attacking the mages with its legs, but the mages moved out of the way. Kirana summoned a stream of big bubbles from her palms to hit the Fuketsuna at great force. Ezra summoned a cloud of lightning from his hands to strike at the Fuketsuna. Ariana created a large rock in the air and shot it to hit the Fuketsuna. Camilla released a large, bullet-like stream of fire towards the Fuketsuna. But three mage kunoichis and mage ninja were having trouble with the huge Fuketsuna because of its quick speed. The Fuketsuna now got the mages cornered to the wall.

"We're trapped." Kirana said as she, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra huddled together in a tight hug.

Suddenly, a powerful bluish-white ball of cackling energy hit the huge Fuketsuna with extreme force. The Fuketsuna roared in pain and stepped back away from the four mages. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked to see Talia firing another cackling energy ball at the Fuketsuna from the Sonicruiser. The Fuketsuna exploded on impact and pale green slime covered Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra.

Then, Talia exited out of the Sonicruiser.

"Hiya." Talia said with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana and Camilla finished mopping up the slime from the floor while Ariana was fixing the Sonicruiser and Talia sat on the chair while eating slices of cheese pizza. Ezra was creating a new page for his scrapbook.

"Thanks for saving our lives, Talia." Camilla spoke.

"But I can't believe she actually came through." Kirana said.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy." Talia said as she finished her slice of pizza. "But it was worth risking."

"I'm still surprised that you have finished the antibody." Ariana said as she lifted her purple goggles. "Especially you remember exactly what I told you."

"I guess it's real luck." Ezra commented.

"I have a sharp memory." Talia said with a shrug. "It's one of my many talents."

Ariana rolled her eyes and lowered her goggles to continue fixing the door on the Sonicruiser.

"I'm the hero, baby!" Talia grinned proudly.

Kirana and Camilla rolled their eyes as they hit Talia down to the floor with their mops with smiles on their faces.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

In the Crete Fortress, Ariana and Camilla faced each other in a sparing exercise inside the dojo. Sage stood on her feet while Casey, Kirana, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit sat on the mats to watch the match.

"Well then, where do you want me to break you first, Ariana?" Camilla asked with a sly grin. "Me taking you down means I can play with you as much as I like."

"I'll let you have your fun with me." Ariana said. "Fighting you will be dreadfully dull when I'm done with you."

"Hajime!" Sage called.

As Ariana and Camilla battled, Ariana was able to use her enhanced agility to knock Camilla on her back with rapid kicks. That made Ariana gasp in astonishment, but she looked at her downed older sister.

"Ha, how does it feel getting beaten up by a pretty nerd like me?" Ariana asked with a cocky grin.

"That was awesome, Ariana." Casey smiled.

"Oh, thanks, Casey." Ariana smiled back with pink blushes.

Camilla noticed Ariana's distraction and tripped her younger sister with a sweeping kick. Ariana moved out of the way, but Camilla unleashed a sudden barrage of fireballs that hit the purple mage kunoichi in low and high directions.

"Camilla, enough!" Sage shouted.

Camilla rolled her eyes with a sigh. She jammed her foot to Ariana's stomach and slammed her onto the ground with an axe kick.

"I'm still suprised that you didn't realize you were that weak." Camilla grinned. "And yet, you still talked like you're a tough girl."

Ariana growled at Camilla with a glare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey exited out of the dojo as Ariana caught up to Camilla near the exit slide door.

"What the heck was that, Camilla?" Ariana demanded.

"What? Just having fun like always." Camilla replied with a smile. "Even your gadgets aren't use to you against me anyway."

"Camilla! You can't keep treating me this way!" Ariana exclaimed.

"Ariana, what are you talking abo...?" Camilla asked. She then noticed the angry look on Ariana's face. "Wait a minute. Are you mad about being treated like a weakling?"

"Well, duh." Ariana snapped. "You're the only one who does. Even towards Talia."

"Well, in case you've noticed with that big brain of yours, I prefer the challenge with direct approach." Camilla said with a firm face. "Look, you're not just strong enough to break me. You're nothing but a quiet nerd who loves spending time with computers more than training. Learn to fight like a real kunoichi and you'll realize how capable you really are."

With that, Camilla walked out of the dojo. Ariana glared at her older sister and started walking her way to the lab. First, Camilla doesn't believe that Talia can make friends with a mutant. Then, she challenged Kirana for being the best leader of the team. And now, she's telling her that she's weak to be a kunoichi. Ariana sometimes wished Camilla could be a better sister.

Ariana watched Kirana, Talia, and Ezra playing video games with Casey, Norbit, and Camilla viewing on the couch in the living room as she closed the lab doors shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As four mages fell asleep on watching a marathon of action movies, Ariana was planning future inventions for the missions in boredom until she received a mysterious email on her laptop. She opened her email and heard loud electronic musical sounds, but she carefully heard a unfamiliar voice speaking in the backgrounds. Unfortunately, the musical sounds made the voice hard to hear who it was. The sound clip was finished, making Ariana stare at the media player icon with confusion.

"Hm, sounded like some sort of telemetric sine wave sub carrier." Ariana said to herself. "But who would send a mysterious message as a random email that plays itself?"

Ariana cracked her knuckles with a smile and began deciphering the secret message on her laptop.

"Ariana, it's April's father." An adult male voice spoke.

Ariana gasped, but she continued to listen the message.

"I pray you get this message." Mr. O'Neil continued as a map appeared next to the media player. "I've been moved to a secret Kraang facility. Send help, Ariana. If you can, send help."

Ariana quickly downloaded the map into her K-Phone. Before she can stand up, she thought about what Camilla said.

'Learn to fight like a real kunoichi and you'll realize how capable you really are.' Camilla's voice echoed.

Ariana grabbed her waist belt and made her way out to the fortress exit.

"You'll know how capable I really am." Ariana muttered.

With that, Ariana exited the fortress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Ariana made her way to the rooftops as she got out her K-Phone and looked at the map.

"Never heard or seen this place, but better than nothing." Ariana said to herself.

Ariana then started jumping and running across rooftops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kirana woke up and began stretching her limbs. She looked at Camilla, Talia, and Ezra sleeping on the couch, but she noticed that Ariana wasn't with them. She closed her eyes to concentrate on finding Ariana's aura, but she quickly opened her eyes when she found out that Ariana isn't in the fortress at all.

"Girls, Ezra, get up." Kirana whispered as she was shaking Camilla, Talia, and Ezra to wake them up. "Where's Ariana?"

"She was in her lab all day yesterday." Talia responded with a yawn.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra hurried into the lab to notice that Ariana isn't there. They searched around the lab until Talia found Ariana's computer and looked at the screen.

"Uh, guys? I think I know where she went." Talia said as she looked at the email.

Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra quickly ran behind Talia.

"Where?" Kirana asked.

Talia pointed her finger to the map and the music player from the email.

"It's a secret message." Ezra realized. "Obviously, she followed it after she figured out how to decode it."

"But where exactly did she go?" Camilla asked.

Ezra pressed the green play sign button to replay the message again.

"Ariana, it's April's father." Mr. O'Neil spoke. "I pray you get this message. I've been moved to a secret Kraang facility. Send help, Ariana. If you can, send help."

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra exchanged worry looks.

"Oh no." Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana jumped skillfully across rooftops and sprang on top of a water tower across the street from the autobody shop.

"So, this is the place." Ariana murmured. She checked the map on her K-Phone with a chuckle. "Not much of a Kraang themed hangout, that's for sure."

Ariana quietly jumped down on the ground and walked her way to the garage entrance. But she noticed that the door was locked with a padlock. Before she can unlock the door, Ariana started to notice that she's not alone. She stomped her left boot on the ground and picked up vibration activities through the area only to detect an unfamiliar figure standing few feet away right behind her.

Ariana snapped her fingers and created a number of earth spikes erupting out of the ground to immobilize the person. She turned around to charge closer at the person with her magic, but her eyes widened wide in complete surprise when the person was actually a mutant turtle. The mutant turtle himself has brownish green skin, purple mask with long tails, and a long bo staff on his back. He also has the same height and eye color as the purple mage kunoichi. Ariana and the mutant turtle made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Professional brownish red eyes—the exact same color that the earth had carried. Their eyes were sparkled with intelligence, compassion, and inventiveness behind their masks. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their family, their home, their gadgets, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the mutant ninja turtle and the mage kunoichi that held them here now.

"Who are you?" Ariana asked firmly. "Are you working with the Kraang or the Shadow Clan?"

"No! You got it wrong." The mutant turtle replied quickly. "Listen, the whole reason I'm here is to find Mr. O'Neil and rescue him. That's it."

"Wait. Mr. O'Neil? You mean April's dad?" Ariana asked in disbelief.

"Yes. April is a friend of mine." The mutant turtle responded. "But how do you know April O'Neil?"

"She's also a friend of mine at high school." Ariana answered. "I met her on the first day until I discovered the Kraang are after her and me."

"Wait a minute. I know the Kraang are targeting April, but why you?" The mutant turtle asked.

"Because I was born with magic powers and they need it to fulfill their plans." Ariana explained.

"But there's no such thing as magic." The mutant turtle said.

"Then, how was I able to immobilize you?" Ariana asked with a raised eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips.

The mutant turtle looked around at the earth spikes with a blank look.

"Good point." The mutant turtle admitted.

"I was born in a race called mages." Ariana explained. "A sub-race of naturally magic-wielding humans with natural gifts to channel magical energies. As you can see, I was able to cast magical attacks on you through the power of earth."

"Earth?" The mutant turtle repeated. "You mean like the four elements?"

"Yes." Ariana answered. "I can also manipulate earth around me for combat."

"So that's why you were able to visualize my presence through vibrations in the earth to strike." The mutant turtle said matter-of-factly. "Very fascinating."

Ariana's eyes widened in surprise. She never met someone who admire her abilities. Well, except for Casey. Knowing that she could trust the mutant, she released him from the earth spikes with her magic.

"Okay." Ariana said finally. She took her K-Phone that revealed the map. "Since you're not my enemy, how were you able to get this message?"

"Mr. O'Neil send the encrypted message and I was able to decode it. I downloaded the map and followed the coordinate here." The mutant turtle explained.

"So did I." Ariana said. "The message sender used a basic DVB scramble algorithm, which is able to scramble words into forms of sounds and music."

"So, by flopping ECM datastream, it was able to return the words to the right pitch and tempo." The mutant turtle added.

"Then, adjust the pitch to clear the message." Ariana and the mutant turtle concluded.

Ariana and the mutant turtle looked at each other as they realized that they just said the same thing. They blushed as they stared at each other with wide smiles on their faces.

"I'm Ariana." Ariana smiled as she extended her hand out.

"Donatello, but you can call me Donnie." The mutant turtle smiled back as he took Ariana's hand with his own hand.

Ariana and Donnie shook hands.

After that, they quietly walked forward to the garage entrance and saw that the door was locked with a padlock. Donnie took out his lockpick and successfully unlocked the door. They entered the garage and closed the door behind them. Donnie drew out his bo staff and Ariana summoned her earth magic as they walked around the area with caution. As they approached to the middle of the garage, Ariana stomped her left boot on the ground and picked up vibration activities through the area to detect a lot of Kraang droids in this building.

"What do you sense, Ariana?" Donnie asked in a whisper.

"The Kraang. They know we're here." Ariana whispered back.

Suddenly, the Kraang droid came from behind Donnie and Ariana.

"It is one of the ones called the Turtles and the K-5." A Kraang droid spoke.

The Kraang droid started firing neon pink energy blasts from his gun at Donnie and Ariana, causing them to jump out of the way. Donnie was able to knock the alien robot on the ground below the hydraulic car lift with his bo staff and then pushed the release button that made the lift land on the Kraang droid to crush its lower body.

"Looks like you could use a tune-up, huh?" Donnie joked with a smile.

Ariana couldn't help but laugh at the mutant turtle's pun.

"Good one, Donnie." Ariana said with a smile.

"Who's the hero now?" Donnie asked with a cocky smile.

Then suddenly, a barrage of neon pink energy blasts startled the mutant turtle and the mage kunoichi.

"Ho-ly cow!" Donnie and Ariana shouted as they both dodged the energy blasts.

Donnie ducked his head in his shell on the last energy blast. He and Ariana looked at the source to see three more Kraang droids at their sight.

"No response necessary." Donnie grimaced in a high-pitched voice.

Donnie and Ariana ran for cover away from the energy laser blasts as Donnie hid behind a car and Ariana hid in the upper levels. Donnie looked across the place from his hiding place and saw a red car in his sights.

"Ariana, go to the red car at the back." Donnie called out.

As Ariana nodded her head, she and Donnie made their way to the red car as they took down a few of the Kraang droids along the way. They met up from behind the red car. Donnie peeked out and saw the remaining Kraang droids, who were continuing to fire at them. Ariana then pointed her magic at the hydraulic control panel and the red car dragged the heroes straight down to an underground detention facility.

With that, Donnie and Ariana landed to the ground with a thud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, three mage kunoichis and mage ninja jumped across rooftops on their search for the Kraang lab.

"I just don't get it. Why would Ariana try to rescue April's father all by herself?" Kirana asked.

Camilla then stopped on the rooftop with a guilty look on her face.

"It was because I told her that she doesn't have what it takes to be a capable kunoichi." Camilla answered sheepishly.

That made Kirana, Talia, and Ezra stopped running as they slowly turned around to face Camilla.

"And why would you say that?" Ezra exclaimed.

"Because she doesn't." Camilla replied. "She spends her magic on tech and machines in her lab all day."

"Yeah, because that's what she's capable of!" Ezra snapped. "Ariana has been working her butt off on her invention in every mission. You need to stop downing on her abilities and be more caring to her. And that's also means us too."

Then, Ezra walked away with Kirana.

"Ariana is a genius for a reason, Camilla." Talia said to Camilla with a disappointed face. "You should have been more supportive to her."

Talia then followed after Kirana and Ezra.

Camilla rolled her eyes and ran forward to catch up with her siblings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Donnie and Ariana recovered quickly, they stood up from the ground and looked around the area.

"Where are we?" Donnie asked.

Ariana stomped her left boot on the ground and picked up something familiar around the area through the vibrations.

"It's an underground prison, or detention facility. The Kraang have taken Kirby here." Ariana muttered.

"Can you track him?" Donnie asked.

Ariana crouched down and pressed her right hand on the ground, concentrating on her earth magic around the facility. The vibrations have picked up a number of Kraang droids, but it finally picked up a male human.

"Got it. He's here, but he's inside a cell." Ariana answered as she looked up at Donnie.

"Okay. We have to find a control room around here in this place." Donnie said.

"Already found it." Ariana said. "Follow me."

Ariana and Donnie quietly snuck their way around the hallways while avoiding the Kraang droids, who were focused on patrolling the corridors. They finally saw a Kraang droid walking out of the door in front of them. Donnie looked at Ariana and held up his T-Phone. Ariana held up her magic hands with a smile. He smiled back and dialed the number as he threw his T-Phone toward the Kraang droid as the retro ringtone rang out loud. The Kraang droid picked up the phone and looked up at Ariana, who released a swarm of six purple glowing artificial clover-shaped bombs that hit the alien robot offline. The Kraang alien started screeching at Ariana, but Donnie came forward and whacked it into a wall with his bo staff.

Ariana picked a Kraang droid's head and held it over a retinal scanner, allowing the door to open up into the control room door. She and Donnie entered the control room, where bright pink lights were streaming down the machine in the center of the room with multiple monitors and doors. They looked over the monitors and saw a male middle aged human curling himself into a ball in one of the cells. He has a bald head with some orange hair, blue eyes, and an orange goatee. He wore a brown jacket with a grey undershirt, tan pants, and brown shoes.

"Mr. O'Neil!" Donnie gasped.

"Let's see if you can unlock the cell, Donnie." Ariana said as she looked over to Donnie.

Donnie nodded and began typing rapidly on the control panel, opening all of the cell doors successfully.

"Come on. Let's get Mr. O'Neil out of there." Donnie said to Ariana.

Ariana nodded as she and Donnie exited the control room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As all of the cell doors have opened, a feminine creature walked through the hallway while taking down some Kraang droids with hand-to-hand combat. She pulled out the Kraang alien and blasted them with black energy into crisps one by one.

With a sinister smile on her face, she was ready to claim her freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, Kirana and her two younger sisters and younger brother have arrived at the autoshop.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Ezra asked.

"Well, Ariana did unlock the place, so yeah, we're in the right place." Kirana replied as she looked down at the lock pick. "I've sense no Kraang droids here, so we're clear."

Kirana opened the garage door and walked inside as Camilla, Talia, and Ezra followed behind their oldest sister. They looked around the place and noticed a Kraang droid crushed under a vehicle.

"Whoa." Camilla said. "Ariana did this?"

"He does look bored to death." Ezra commented.

"Seems this way." Kirana replied, placing her hands on her hips.

Talia walked around and found a control panel right in front of her. She curiously pressed a button and the area around a red car open up a secret passage.

"Hey, guys! I think I've found a secret passage!" Talia shouted.

Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra walked up on either side of Talia as they looked down at the opening hatch.

"Nice work, Talia." Kirana smiled.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra jumped down the hatch as they landed on their feet and looked around until they saw a door up ahead with a Kraang droid at front. They ran up to it and found that the alien droid wasn't moving at all.

"Looks like Ariana must've gone through this door." Ezra said.

"The question is how?" Camilla asked.

"I know." Talia responded.

Talia picked a Kraang droid's head and held it over a retinal scanner, allowing the door to open up into the control room door.

"Whoa." Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra gasped with wide eyes.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra slowly entered the control room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Ariana led Donnie straight to Kirby while using her earth magic until they finally reached a cell door.

"Found him. He's in here." Ariana said, pointing her finger at the cell door in front of her.

Donnie started opening the cell door and walked inside along with Ariana.

"Hello? Mr. O'Neil?" Ariana spoke quietly.

Kirby looked up at Donnie and Ariana.

"It's me. Donatello?" Donnie smiled.

Kirby looked at Ariana with a raised eyebrow.

"It's okay, Kirby. I'm Ariana." Ariana smiled sweetly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've never seen you before, so it's hard to imagine what you really look like." Kirby said. He stood up and walked towards the ninjas. "Thank goodness you've come!"

Kirby threw his arms around Donnie and Ariana, making them surprisingly awkward at the same time. Then, Kirby released the hug.

"Right. Um, shall we go?" Donnie spoke.

"Immediately." Kirby smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Good idea." Ariana agreed with a smile.

Then, the trio exited the cell room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donnie and Ariana followed Kirby through the hallway.

"I thought that you two might be able to decipher my message." Kirby said.

"Well, it wasn't so bad." Donnie assured with a shrug.

"We used a basic DVB scramble algorithm." Ariana said.

"So we just..." Donnie continued.

"Flopped the ECM datastream." Kirby, Donnie, and Ariana finished with a smile.

Donnie, Ariana, and Kirby heard something move from behind us. They turned around, but they saw nothing.

"Donatello, Ariana, why are all the other cells open?" Kirby asked.

"I must have opened them when I let you out. But, they were all empty." Donnie answered.

Donnie, Ariana, and Kirby heard the movement again, but this time two unfamiliar roars was heard out loud.

"I'm not so sure about that." Kirby voiced.

The movement come from right behind Donnie, Ariana, and Kirby as they turned and heard the roars. Donnie drew out his bo staff and Ariana summoned her earth magic as they both got ready for a fight.

"Okay, don't worry. Whatever this is, I'm sure we can handle..." Ariana assured.

Then suddenly, two creatures appeared right behind the trio.

Donnie, Kirby, and Ariana startled with a yelp that made them fall to the ground. They quickly got back to our feet and turned around to see a ten feet tall heavily armored fire belly newt. He has a muscular and bulky with his body was completely black with an orange underbelly in a form of a skull pattern. He wore white metallic armor that included a belt, a pair of shoulder plates with the right plate is far larger than the left, two straps that connect the belt and shoulder plates, a pair of armored bracelets, a pair of leg holsters with pouches and ammo types attached to them, and a pair of axe blades attached to his tail. He also wears a backpack with an antenna sticking out. Next to him was a seven feet tall female humanoid. She has a slender yet athletic build with long white hair and blue eyes. Her skin was dark turquoise colored with black markings all over her body. She wore a skintight, full-body dark teal bodysuit with black trimming, black fingerless gloves, and black combat boots.

The two creatures looked at us and roared dangerously at them.

"On second thought, you might want to worry just a little." Donnie corrected.

The newt creature aimed one of its weapons and fired a barrage of yellow lasers at the trio. But Donnie, Kirby, and Ariana hid behind the pillar for cover.

"What are those things?" Donnie asked.

"You must've accidentally released one of the Kraang's alien experiments." Kirby answered.

"But I don't think the female is a Kraang experiment." Ariana pointed out. She snapped her fingers and conjured up her lilac touchscreen pad as she began searching the female creature's animal species and showed a page of animal lists on her touchscreen pad to Donnie and Kirby. "According to my readings, she doesn't have any animal species that matches her on Earth."

Kirby, Donnie, and Ariana then ran down the hallway while dodging the firing barrage of laser power as the two creatures chased after them.

"It looks like some family of Salamandridae if I'm not mistaken." Donnie summarized.

"With that proboscis?" Kirby asked. "It's clearly a Pleurodelinae. A newt."

"It looks like a Japanese Fire Belly Newt." Ariana added. "Judging by its larger size, rough and pebbly skin, and distinct parotoid glands."

The newt creature threw a disk at the trio, but the disk hit the wall when the trio reached the end of the hallway. Donnie, Ariana, and Kirby looked back at the female creature as she fired a small bolt of black energy at the disk. Donnie and Ariana tackled Kirby to ground as the disk exploded and caused the wall to crumble a bit.

"Newtralizer is more like it." Donnie said.

Donnie helped Kirby and Ariana back to their feet as they continued their way to the exit.

"By the way, prefer if you don't tell Mikey I named something without him. He's kind of protective about that." Donnie smiled to Kirby.

Kirby understood with a nod.

"Trust me, my sister Talia is the same way." Ariana grinned. "Besides, I'm still thinking on naming the another creature some time soon."

Newtralizer and the female creature noticed the trio are still alive now the Kraang know we're here.

Kirby, Donnie, and Ariana ran through a number of corridors as Donnie and Ariana took down the Kraang droids while avoiding Newtralizer's weaponry attacks and the female creature's energy blasts. But they also noticed that Newtralizer and the female creatures were also attacking the Kraang droids as well. That gave Kirby, Donnie, and Ariana the opportunity to run down another hallway, but three more Kraang droids made them stop. Ariana used her earth magic to beat them down.

"Go!" Ariana said to Donnie and Kirby. "I'll take care of them! I'll find you two after!"

Donnie and Kirby turned to the other hallway, leaving the purple mage kunoichi to handle the alien robots. While dodging the neon pink energy laser blasts, Ariana summoned five long earth spikes that pierced three Kraang droids from all side. She stomped her left boot on the ground and picked up vibration activities through the area to locate Donnie and Kirby's whereabouts. She ran forward to the other hallway and saw the Kraang droids and Newtralizer at her sight as they were warming up their own weapons to take aim at her friends. Ariana immediately sculpted a gigantic fist from the ground and pointed her finger at her enemies, causing the gigantic fist to attack the Kraang droids and Newtralizer to the wall with one punch. Ariana ran up to the nearest cell, where she looked through the small window to see Donnie and Kirby safe and sound.

"Are you guys okay?" Ariana asked.

"We're fine." Kirby replied. "But Donnie accidentally locked us in this cell."

"Yeah, my bad." Donnie apologized with a sheepish smile.

Ariana's eyes widened wide as she picked up vibrating shockwaves moving out from someone and traveled up to her body towards her brains. She quickly moved away from the cell window and turned to see the female creature standing a few feet away from her. Ariana narrowed her eyes and got into her fighting stance.

"Sweetie, you are not ready for what you are about to face." The female creature spoke in a deadly voice. "My name is Nebula and I'll show you why I'm the champion back on my home planet."

Nebula shot multiple black energy balls straight at Ariana, who quickly formed a large wall of earth from the ground to protect herself.

"Donnie, Kirby, I'll handle Nebula while you two handle Newtrailzer." Ariana said to Donnie and Kirby. "Donnie, you must get Kirby out of here and back to April."

"Okay, you got it." Kirby said with a nod.

"Be careful, Ariana." Donnie said. He then formed a smile on his face. "Besides, we made a pretty good team."

"You and me both." Ariana said with a wink. "See you guys around."

Ariana dropped down the large wall and sprinted away, making Nebula chase after her with fast speed.

"Note to self: no more solo missions for me!" Ariana screamed.

Ariana headed towards the control room door and entered into the control room as she pointed her magic to close the door shut. When she turned around for the monitors, she noticed that Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra have joined the mission.

"Ariana! Thank goodness!" Camilla gasped.

"Actually, I'm glad you guys are here." Ariana said with a grin. She noticed that Talia was holding a strange white orb in her hands. "What is that?"

"I don't know." Talia replied. "But I know I have to let you check it out back home, especially if it's part of Kraang tech."

The K-5 looked at the monitors to watch Nebula firing her black energy beam at the door.

"Oh, this can't be good." Kirana said.

"Who the heck is that?" Camilla cried.

"Her name is Nebula." Ariana said as she took out her brownish green flash drive and plugged it to the system for downloading. "She wants to destroy Kraang because they imprisoned her and now she's after me."

"Uh, what are you doing?" Ezra asked.

"Downloading some files on the Kraang invasion." Ariana replied as she began typing on the control panel and unplugged her flash drive after the download was complete. "I've got it."

Suddenly, Nebula have finally pryed the locked door and looked at the K-5 with a dangerous smile.

"Talia, portal now!" Ariana cried to Talia.

Talia nodded her head and pointed her magic to open a swirly orange portal at one of the the other doors.

"Let's go!" Ariana said. "I have an idea!"

The K-5 immediately ran through the portal, but Nebula jumped through it while the portal was starting to close. Nebula landed on the building rooftop outside the city and looked around for the K-5, but they were nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Camilla transformed her right hand into a whip composed of fire to grab Nebula and slammed her mercilessly to the rooftop ground until she tossed her high in the air. Kirana transformed her left hand into a claw composed of water and quickly delivered a series of slashes from multiple directions before slamming Nebula into the rooftop ground. Ezra constructed a sword of lightning from his hand and slashed Nebula on her back. Ariana performed an upward earth drill kick that hit Nebula multiple times and sent her flying on the final hit.

"Talia, now!" Ariana shouted.

Talia smiled mischievously as she dashed forward and unleashed a flurry of air-powered punches and flips before finally kicking Nebula away. That attack made Nebula sent flying far away from the city and crashed into the ocean because of the impact.

"Nice job, guys." Kirana said with a smile as she and her siblings came together. "Let's head home."

As the K-5 headed back to the fortress, Nebula popped out of the water and watched the K-5 leaping from rooftop to rooftop before vanishing out of her sight.

"I will not forget this." Nebula hissed with a glare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 entered the living room as Casey, Norbit, and Sage exited out of the dojo.

"By the way, what happened to April's dad?" Ezra asked Ariana.

"Oh, uh, I teleported him back to April in her aunt's place." Ariana replied. "At least, he'll be safe by the Kraang for now."

"Where the heck you have for been?" Casey demanded with a frown. "You guys had a mission and didn't tag me along? No fair, dudettes and dude."

"Was it a success?" Sage asked.

"The mission was a sucess and it's all thanks to Ariana." Camilla said with a smile.

Ariana's eyes widened in surprise as she couldn't believe what she's hearing from Camilla.

"Well, yeah...but..." Ariana stuttered.

"Seriously! You should've really seen her." Camilla continued. "Not only she took down the Kraang on her own, but she took down that freaky Nebula with wicked bone-crushing fighting moves."

Ariana stopped Camilla by placing her hand over her older sister's mouth.

"Okay, thanks, Camilla." Ariana said with an annoyed look.

"Whoa, that's sick, Ariana." Casey grinned excitedly. He hugged Ariana tightly. "But I'm just glad you have really become an awesome kunoichi."

Casey released the hug and looked at Ariana with a smile. Ariana giggled shyly and collapsed on the ground with love-struck eyes. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, Casey, and Sage looked over Ariana as they started laughing with smiles on their faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Lady Shade walked past the entrance of the TCRI building. The Kraang droids have lined up for her presence, but Lady Shade noticed that the Shredder have arrived as well.

"The plan which has been set into motion has taken the motion in which the plan has been set." One of the Kraang droids spoke.

"Those alien creatures of yours nearly thwarted our objectives." Shredder retorted.

"You all better give us one reason why we can't crush you all under the heel of our boots like vile insects." Lady Shade said with a dangerous look on her face.

"Kraang did not expect the turtle known as Donatello to release him nor the mage known as Ariana to accompany him." Another Kraang droid explained. "Fortunately for Kraang, this error did not prevent the planned escape of the human who is called Kirby O'Neil."

"The turtles have undoubtedly brought O'Neil back to their lair." Shredder said to Lady Shade.

"But not to the K-5's fortress?" Lady Shade asked with narrow eyes. "Oh, well. I have other ways of finding them."

"Soon, vengeance will be ours." Shredder said determinedly.

"Splinter and Sage will embrace their fear by an eternal nightmare." Lady Shade said with a dark smile.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Inside the TCRI building, the Kraang droids have received an incoming message from their leader Kraang Prime on the view screen.

"Kraang Prime!" The Kraang cheered continually. "Kraang Prime! Kraang Prime!"

"The invasion that is known as the invasion of Earth begins now!" Kraang Prime announced.

With that, the entire Kraang droids started marching to prepare for their invasion.

"Prepare the Technodrome." One of the Kraang droids ordered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Crete Fortress, Ariana was working on a new invention inside the lab. But then, the Kraang communication orb started alerting with pink spots that caught Ariana's attention. She looked over to see her computer was uploading files of documents and images from the orb.

"What's going on?" Ariana muttered. She looked at the files and started typing codes that can translate interdimensional languages. "The Kraang Communication Orb's going haywire. Looks like the Kraang blobs are up to something big this time."

As Ariana hit the enter key with one finger, her eyes widened in utter shock as she stared at the highlighted Kraang language that were translated to English in seconds.

"I've got tell the others." Ariana said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the living room, Ariana's siblings were doing their own thing in relaxation. Talia was playing on her orange console handheld game. Camilla and Casey were reading superhero comic books. Ezra and Norbit were playing an arcade game. And Kirana was finished watching the last episode of Battlestar Matrix, where Mila and her crew returned back to Earth after their final battle with a large, obese pink dinosaur-like space monster.

"What a glorious victory." Kirana smiled in awe.

"Everyone, come in my lab! I've got something extremely important." Ariana yelled from the lab.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey turned their attention to Ariana as they got up and headed to Ariana's lab.

"What'cha got, Ariana?" Camilla asked.

"I have been sifting through all this Kraang chatter and I've found something that you guys should hear." Ariana explained as she was typing more codes on her computer. "Listen to this."

Ariana hit the enter key and the Kraang Communication Orb started playing the translated words.

"The final phase of the plan, known as Kraang's invasion, shall commence in the unit of time that is six hours. The Technodrome shall arrive from Dimension X through the portal." A Kraang droid's voice spoke from the Communication Orb.

"Okay, that's bad." Talia said.

"This is the final phase of the Kraang invasion." Ariana said.

"Wait a minute. I thought we were the key to the Kraang plot, including April." Kirana pointed out.

"And her sister; Macey." Ezra added.

"Although Macey is half human half mutant, there is a possibility that the Kraang are still targeting her." Norbit said.

"Maybe they got bored and didn't want us anymore." Camilla said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"If the Technodrome comes through that portal, it would be the end of the world for all of us." Ariana summarized. "The city and the entire world."

"Great, it's an invasion." Ezra said, sarcastically.

"So what are we gonna do?" Talia asked.

"Guys, listen up." Kirana called with a determined face. "We gonna find a way to shut that portal down one way or another."

"You really expected the five of us to save the world?" Talia asked.

"Kirana is right." Sage spoke as she stood behind the teenagers. "When you first went to the city, I feared you were not ready to face the world as I did in the past. But I've realized that it was your destiny to become heroes you all have trained to be. If the fate of the world must rest in somebody's hands, I am grateful that it's yours."

The K-5 bowed to Sage.

"Then let's save the world." Ezra smiled.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey dashed out of the lab to prepare for the battle, but Kirana noticed her mother's look and stepped forward towards Sage with a worry face.

"What's wrong, mother?" Kirana asked.

"Kirana, the most important thing is to complete your mission with the world at stake." Sage said.

"Yes, mother." Kirana said with a nod.

"No matter who or what you have to sacrifice." Sage finished.

Kirana looked away in thought for a second and then looked back at Sage with an understanding nod.

With that, Sage made her way to the dojo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 was preparing for the plan to finally take down TCRI and the portal to Dimension X. Kirana was going through plan ideas. Ariana was building a few weapons in her lab. Ezra was gathering some spell equipment and learned quick spells. Camilla was pumping her strength with large vinyl dumbbells. Talia was performing her acrobatic skills.

The K-5 stood in front of Sonicruiser. Norbit gave hugs to the mages, Casey gave the girls a good luck hug, gave Ezra a fist bump, and Sage bowed her head.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Let's go save the world." Kirana said to her siblings.

With that, the K-5 entered the Sonicruiser and drove towards the city.

Sage, Norbit, and Casey watched the K-5 drive off in the futuristic car.

"Hey, Sage, can I ask you a question?" Casey asked.

"Of course, Casey." Sage answered.

"Why don't you go with them?" Casey asked his question. "I mean, don't get me wrong. The K-5 are out there risking their lives and they could use your help in this time of crisis."

"Well, I might be their mother and teacher, but there are some things in my past I cannot face." Sage replied calmly.

"But why?" Casey asked again.

"Come with me." Sage said with a deep sigh.

With that, Sage walked off to the dojo with Casey and Norbit behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, the K-5 drove the Sonicruiser into the streets of New York. They finally reached TCRI as Kirana parked the black vehicle into the dead end alley.

"All right, guys, we're gonna keep it simple. We go to TCRI and we use the micro-fission omni-disintegrator, which Ariana calculates that is powerful enough to destroy the portal with a single shot." Kirana revised.

"Got it." Ariana, Talia, and Ezra nodded in agreement.

"But are you sure this plan gonna work, Kirana?" Camilla asked.

"It has to work." Kirana replied with a firm face. "I know I will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Sage waved her magic on a large transparent bubble in the dojo. Casey and Norbit watched the bubble displaying an event on a jealous Rozu attacked Sage in the family's burning home. During their battle, Caesar saved Sage from Rozu's fatal attack. That allowed Saldana survive, but she mourned for his death. The sound of Sage's scream for her husband's death made Casey and Norbit feel sympathy for the white mage.

After the story ended, Casey and Norbit looked back at the saddened Sage. Norbit gave Sage a hug to comfort her, to which the white mage smiled a little.

"I know you want me to help my children, but I couldn't face my past no matter how much I want to." Sage said.

"I understand your fear, Sage." Casey said as he made his way to the dojo slide door. "But I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"Casey, where are you going?" Sage asked.

"I'm gonna help the K-5." Casey replied. "I know you think it's dangerous for me to head out the city, but you have to trust me."

"Alright, but promise me you be careful out there." Sage said.

"I promise." Casey smiled with a nod.

"I will go with Casey to help my best friends." Norbit said.

"Ok." Casey said. "Let's go, Norbit."

With that, Casey and Norbit exited the fortress and made his way to the city. Casey stood on a building rooftop and took his hockey stick with his mask on his face.

Before he and Norbit can head out to find the K-5, two Shadow Ninjas appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Casey's arms besides him. Two Shadow Ninjas then grabbed Norbit's arms beside him. Casey was trying to break free, but he wasn't strong enough.

"Let me go, you ninja clods!" Casey cried.

Then, Casey and Norbit saw Kuro walking toward him with two Nanocats on his side.

"Sup, hockey boy." Kuro greeted with a grin. "Miss me?"

"Yeah, only when we have our bro time." Casey replied.

"You two take the message to Sage." Kuro ordered the Nanocats.

The Nanocats bowed her head and walked their way to Sage. The Shadow Ninjas pulled Casey and Norbit to Kuro as Casey looked at him with a glare. But Casey smiled secretly at Kuro, who was grinning in the same secretive manner before looking back at his Shadow Ninjas.

"Let's go." Kuro ordered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the TCRI building, Phantom took down of the Kraang droids with a barrage of quick slashes. She noticed Ms. McGuire was standing in front of her as she transformed her arms into laser cannon.

"Surrender now or face my cannons." Ms. McGuire demanded.

"Surrender is not in my memory banks, pal." Phantom said with narrow eyes.

Phantom and Ms. McGuire charged forward to engage the robotic battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the K-5 soared their way to TCRI in the air. Ariana created five airboards for everyone to infiltrate TCRI from the roof with incredible flight. Kirana's airboard was light blue with emerald green spades as foot pads on a black plate in the center of the top surface. Ariana's airboard was bright lilac with brownish green clovers as foot pads on a black plate in the center of the top surface. Ezra's airboard was light turquoise with sea green stars as footpads on a black plate in the center of the top surface. Camilla's airboard was bright scarlet with dark green hearts as foot pads on a black plate in the center of the top surface. Talia's airboard was tangerine with light green diamonds as foot pads on a black plate in the center of the top surface.

"Nice work on the boards, Ariana!" Camilla shouted to Ariana with a grin.

"This is epic!" Ezra cheered.

"Yeah, this is awesome!" Talia agreed.

Ariana grinned at Camilla, Talia, and Ezra with a wink.

"Alright, guys! Let's go this!" Kirana said.

The K-5 approached the Kraang's base and landed on the highest part of the building roof. They noticed a pigeon was staring right in front of the security camera on the corner. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra walked by the security camera undetected, but the blue mage kunoichi halted herself and gasped suddenly that caught her siblings' attention. She felt a bright yellow aura and a bright pink aura within the Kraang base and shook her head for that sudden feeling.

"What is it, Kirana?" Talia asked.

"It's April!" Kirana replied with a sharp gasp. "The Kraang captured her and her little sister; Macey! We have to destroy the portal and save April."

"And how are we gonna do that without letting April and Macey see who we are?" Camilla asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"She has a point." Ezra said. "They'll freak if they see who we are. How can we act like different ninjas?"

"With these." Ariana answered. She snapped her fingers and five black metallic masks appeared in her hands. "I know just in case April or Macey spotted us, we will use these masks to disguise our voices. That way they won't recognize us once we were inside."

"Smooth thinking, Ariana." Talia grinned.

"It's what I do best." Ariana smirked proudly.

The K-5 put on the masks on their faces. Kirana's black mask has several neon blue linings at the center. Ariana's black mask has several neon purple linings at the center. Ezra's black mask has several neon teal linings at the center. Camilla's black mask has several neon red linings at the center. Talia's black mask has several neon orange linings at the center. The K-5 powered their boots with their elemental magic and began propelling over the Kraang base as they jetted down to the portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, Sage was meditating under the great tree inside the dojo. She heard two robotic meowing behind her and immediately stood up as she aimed her white magic at the Nanocats that were approaching her innocently.

"What kind of trick is this?" Sage wondered as she took a step back from the Nanocats.

One Nanocat activated a hologram of Lady Shade in front of Sage.

"Greetings, Sage." Lady Shade spoke.

"Shade?" Sage gasped with wide eyes.

"I was willing to leave you grief for the end of the Magnolia Clan. But I never imagined you would train your own children to recreate your clan once more. I have Casey Jones and Norbit in my grasp. If you value their life, you will come and face me one on one. So, we can finally finish what we started years ago." Lady Shade challenged.

With that, the holographic Lady Shade disappeared from the Nanocat.

Sage then noticed the other Nanocat was scanning the location of the fortress from its red glowing eyes. The Nanocats ran out of the dojo, but Sage destroyed them instantly with one white energy blast.

"If Shade wants to face me one on one, so be it!" Sage declared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the TCRI bulding, the K-5 quietly snuck into the main base. They saw the Kraang droids are waiting for the portal.

"What? The portal is not here." Ariana whispered.

"Bummer." Camilla said with a deadpan face.

"And it's a good thing that I made these Kamikaze Grenades after all." Ariana said.

"What does it do anyway?" Talia asked.

"The Kamikaze Grenades can disintegrate anything within a certain radius around the target with an explosive charge." Ariana explained.

"Then, how come you didn't locate the portal in the building with the communication orb?" Kirana asked Ariana.

"Obviously, we were in a hurry, so I didn't have time to do that!" Ariana shouted frustratingly.

"You just had to shout something!" Ezra said, irritated.

Then, the Kraang droids heard Ariana's voice and aimed their laser guns to fire neon pink blasts at the K-5.

"Forget this." Camilla said to her siblings. "Let's make this mission a lot more fun."

Suddenly, the K-5 jumped down to the floor and charged forward to battle with the Kraang droids.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Masque and Inque were waiting in the throne room for Sage's arrival. Casey was sitting on the throne chair bounded by tight chains as he struggled to break free from the chains on his own. Norbit was in chains next to Casey.

"So, why would Lady Shade fight this Sage anyway?" Masque asked Inque.

"Sage is one of the best master mages in history. She and Mistress Shade trained in the same ninja clan many years ago." Inque explained. "They used to be like sisters until Shiroibara Sage betrayed her. She may have powerful skills as Mistress Shade, but she doesn't have the will to finish the fight."

Then suddenly, Inque and Masque heard the sound of fighting coming from the other side of the door.

"It can't be." Masque gasped.

"She's here!" Inque exclaimed.

Inque and Masque got into their offensive stances as they were ready to take on Sage on their own. As the door opened wide, Sage appeared and walked slowly in front of the mage mutants with all of the Shadow Ninjas went unconscious behind her. Inque shapeshifted her arms into razor-sharp claws and charged forwards towards Sage while stabbing the white mystics rapidly with her claws. But Sage swiftly dodged Inque's claws with ease and enhanced her hands with white energy to deliver massive blows at the ink mystic mutant. Masque charged forward and fired a beam of ghost white energy at Sage, who moved out of the way with remarkable speed and stabbed her right hand at the ghost mage mutant before blasting white energy lasers from all of her fingers that sent her towards the ground. Inque and Masque got back up on their feet with a glare. As they charged forward to attack Sage together, Sage performed a jumping knee strike on the mage mutants' chest and launched them upwards as she somersaults back to the ground. As Sage landed on her feet, she drew daggers made of white magic and leapt up towards the mage mutants as she quickly delivered a series of slashes from multiple directions before slamming them into the ground. Inque and Masque groaned as they went out unconscious on the ground.

"That. Was. Totally. Wicked!" Casey cried with a huge smile.

"That was very amazing combat." Norbit said.

"Don't worry, I will get you and Norbit out, Casey." Sage assured.

Sage ran over to Casey and lifted one glowing finger. She took a careful aim and shot a tiny white energy bolt at the chains, disintegrating them instantly and allowing Casey to get off of the throne room. Sage then did the same with Norbit and walked away from the throne room.

Then suddenly; Sage, Norbit, and Casey heard Lady Shade's giggling as numerous flaming torches lit up and lined on the walls at either side of the throne room. They looked up to see Lady Shade dropping down to the ground.

"Hello, Shiroibara Sage. I am so glad you accepted my invitation." Lady Shade spoke. "You can have Casey Jones and Norbit back. They have done their job leading you here. Especially when the Kraang should have capture your children by now."

"What did the Kraang done with my children?" Saldana shouted. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You put the entire world close to destruction all because of your vendetta against me?"

"Yes." Lady Shade answered. "The Kraang wants to use your children's magic for their invasion, but I really don't care about all that. I demand an opponent worthy of strength and now I can finally crush you like the vile insect once and for all."

Sage narrowed her eyes at Lady Shade with a glare. She lifted her hand and opened a white swirly portal behind Casey and Norbit.

"I'm creating a portal back to the fotress, Casey." Sage said. "Go with Norbit now! This is my fight!"

"Okay." Casey said with a nod. "Kick her butt, Sage."

"Will do." Sage grinned.

"Be careful, Sage." Norbit said.

"I will." Sage assured.

As Casey grinned back with a thumbs-up and walked into the portal with Norbit, Sage snapped her finger to close the portal behind her and looked back at Lady Shade with a dangerous face.

"You have continue to channel your vengeance as your strength, Shade." Sage declared. "No matter how many years of your consuming revenge, your defeat will always be the same!"

Sage and Lady Shade levitated high above the floor as they formed a ball of magical energy around themselves and locked each other into a vicious battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the TCRI building, the K-5 finished taking down the Kraang droids with their magic.

"Well, that was easy." Ezra grinned.

"Uh, guys?" Ariana called. "We have a problem!"

The K-5 looked at the window and saw a pink energy beam firing into the sky. Their eyes widened wide when they saw a large metallic silver sphere-like spaceship emerging from the sky through the opening portal. The spaceship has multiple protruding spikey points and an huge purple eye-like shape in the center.

"O. M. G!" Talia gasped.

"We have to get out of here now!" Kirana said.

Kirana screamed out loud as she got blasted painfully in the back and collapsed straight to the floor.

"Kirana!" Camilla shouted.

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked forward to see the last four remaining Kraang droids standing right in front of the downed Kirana with short thin silver sticks in their hands. Before four mages can attack with their magic, the Kraang droids swiftly electrocuted them and the mage kunoichis and mage ninja fell down one by one on the ground unconsciously.

With a strained groan, Kirana lifted her head a bit and opened her eyes to see four Kraang droids gathering around her and her younger siblings.

"Take the ones known as the K-5 to the room where the ones known as April O'Neil and Macey O'Neil have been contained for Kraang Prime." One Kraang droid ordered.

Kirana's view went black as she passed out.

To Be Continued…


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

Kirana stood on the edge of a building rooftop with a shocking face. She watched the Technodrome floating high in the sky. She even looked down to see every human in New York saw and stared the giant spherical ship above them with wide eyes.

"It's the...end of...the world!" Kirana cried. "The end of humanity and mage's reign!"

The Technodrome started aiming its antennae at the city and began firing neon pink energy lasers to wreak some havoc in the city. Thousands of terrifying citizens ran away from the energy lasers in a panic the Technodrome slowly floated over them.

Kirana immediately looked back up to see a neon pink energy laser coming in her direction. Her eyes widened wide and stood hopelessly when the energy laser collided down at her position.

Suddenly, Kirana gasped sharply as she opened her eyes wide and struggled to catch her breath for several more seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Sage and Lady Shade suddenly rammed into one another in their white and black orbs. They flew down to the ground at the other ends of the throne room and floated in mid-air with glaring faces.

"Burakkurōzu Rozu." Sage said softly. "You were once my best friend. I thought of you as my closest sister. Fifteen years ago, I was a different mage with a loving husband and a wonderful children." Her calm face slowly changed into a fierce look. "But you let jealousy consumed your soul and you took everything that I loved. Everything! And still you hunt me down like a rabid dog. So, if you really wanted to fight me, go on and try!"

Sage created an enormous ball of white energy and sent it flying straight at Lady Shade, who easily moved out of the way. Lady Shade began creating several powerful black energy balls and sent them one by one to hit Sage's position, but Sage easily avoided each powerful ball with remarkable speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kirana finally took deep breaths and then looked around to find herself in a large room inside the massive Kraang warship. She looked down and found herself strapped to an obscure, metallic table. She also found her younger siblings, April, and Macey are strapped to a table as well.

"Hey, guys. Wake up!" Kirana called out.

April, Macey, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra opened their eyes as they looked down to find themselves trapped to a strapped table with surprise faces.

"What the heck is going on?" Ezra asked.

"Whoa, where the heck are we?" Talia asked as she and the others looked around the room.

"We're in some kind of a secret lab room." Ariana answered. "But without the computers and other Kraang machinery."

"Hey, who are you guys?" April asked the K-5.

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra stiffened for a moment. But Ariana moved her index finger in a circle and pointed her magic at her forehead.

"Guys, use your masks." Ariana spoke telepathically. "Disguise our voices, so April and Macey won't recognize us."

Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra nodded their heads as they and Ariana looked at April and Macey.

"We are the K-5, April O'Neil and Macey O'Neil." Kirana spoke.

"How do you know our names?" Macey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"From TCRI." Ariana answered. "We found out from the data drive that not only the Kraang need you, your sister, and the daughter of Monica De Milo, but the five of us as well."

"Why? Do you guys have the same powers as me?" April asked.

"Not really." Camilla responded. "We were naturally adapted at magic. We were born that way."

"That's when we learn that the Kraang wants to channel our magical energies for their invasion along with your powers." Talia said. "But we don't know exactly the real reason why."

Ezra looked up at something and widen his eyes.

"Girls, look." Ezra meeped.

Suddenly, a gigantic ten feet Kraang staring down at the mages and two sisters menacingly. His pupils are star shaped and has tendrils over his mouth with bulky and dark red tentacles. He also has three hexagonal decorations on his forehead.

"April O'Neil, Macey O'Neil, and K-5!" Kraang Prime spoke. "Kraang has waited a long time."

"Where are we? And what's going on?" Ezra asked.

"Like all Kraang, I am called Kraang. But you can call me Kraang." Kraang Prime answered. "Kraang has need of this planet for Kraang to live on."

"Um, that's great, but we're kind of using it." April said.

"So you came all this way for nothing." Kirana retorted. "What a huge bummer."

"No. Kraang came all this way for you, April O'Neil." Kraang Prime said.

"Wait a minute. So if you came for April, why do you need Macey and us?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah, why am I here?" Macey asked.

"Kraang discovered that you, Macey O'Neil, has mutagen that is extraordinary for Kraang."

Kraang Prime looked at the K-5.

"Kraang has found your magic abilities useful for destroying enemies." Kraang Prime answered. "Especially when you four possesses tremendous power from the Four Dragoness and the son of the sorcer; Dastren."

"Four Dragoness?" Kirana and Talia said together with raised eyebrows.

"My father; Dastren?" Ezra said with confusion.

"But they were destroyed years ago. And Dastren was a sorcerer wiped out eleven years ago." Ariana explained. "So, you got the wrong mages to think we are the Four Dragoness."

"Four Dragoness or not, there's no way you're using my powers or hurting my brother for your stupid invasion!" Camilla snapped.

"As if I have anything to offer to you Kraangs." April commented.

"Your mental energy is uniquely attuned to this universe." Kraang Prime explained. "Once Kraang gains this ability, Kraang will transform your world into a world for Kraang with the K-5 as our slaves to my conquest."

"And how are you going to do that exactly?" April asked.

Then suddenly, a swarm of electrodes started converging on April, who began screaming at the sight of the electrodes.

"April!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Macey yelled.

Then a swarm of electrodes and needles appeared in front of Macey, who began screaming at the sight.

"Macey!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra yelled.

Then, another swarm of electrodes appeared in front of the K-5. They moved their heads away from them, but it was no use for them to resist as they felt an electrode converge on their heads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Sage and Lady Shade floated back to the ground in mid-air. They both emitted themselves in white and black aura of sheer magical energy.

"How can feed your hatred into some insane obsession?" Sage demanded.

"Because you took Caesar from me!" Lady Shade countered. "You knew how I felt about him and he still chose you anyway!"

Lady Shade shot out black energy blasts to attack Sage, but Sage swiftly jumped out and send out a white energy rope to catch her. The white mage was about to attack a powerful white energy beam into her rival to end this, but Lady Shade used her black energy force field to set herself free and dodged Sage's attack.

"You only let your hatred fulfill your dark mind." Sage said with a glare. "Your insanity cannot defeat me! You possess only arrogance and destruction! There isn't any reason to have anything!"

"Is that so? You think I don't have anything after what happened back in Japan, but you're wrong." Lady Shade declared with a smirk. "You took Caesar away from me, so I took someone precious from you. Your son."

Sage's eyes widened and gasped softly. Her mind was racing rapidly. The six year old mage boy that she thought perish in the fire was actually raised by Lady Shade as her own child.

"No...no..." Sage breathed. "It can't be."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Technodrome, Kraang Prime fitted the K-5 and Macey with terrifying helmet-like devices while Macey was pale as a ghost. The helmet device was siphoning up April's cerebral energies and transferring them into Kraang Prime while the other helmet devices were programming the K-5 into following all of Kraang Prime's instructions. The K-5's birthmarks popped out on their bodies as a quick spreading of incandescent colored marks appeared all over their clothing and skins.

"Macey O'Neil, your mutagen belongs to Kraang. April O'Neil, your mind belongs to Kraang. Soon, your world will be ours with the K-5 as Kraang's devoted servants. Let the mutation and mind control begin." Kraang Prime said.

The room was energizing with psychic Kraang-like energy as Kraang Prime then successfully began using April's cerebral energies to begin the planet-wide mutation of Earth.

"Witness the end of your kind." Kraang Prime said.

"Not if we can help it!"

Kraang Prime turned around to see five mutant turtles burst in the room from the vent. Kirana was able to sense the mutants' auras and formed a smile on her face when she recognized one of them.

"The Turtles? Kraang will not be stopped by pathetic mutants!" Kraang Prime shouted.

"At least we're not stupid aliens!" The orange masked turtle retorted.

Talia grinned widely for hearing Mikey's voice.

"Raph, quick!" The turquoise masked turtle ordered.

Raph dove toward the Kraang Prime and kicked him hard between the eyes in the face. The purple mutant turtle was able to release April and Ariana from the table and the helmet as Leo, Mikey, and Vee did the same with Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Macey that instantly shut down the active mutation ray in the process. April, Macey, and the K-5 regained consciousness after they freed from the Kraang Prime's clutches.

"Thanks, Vee." Macey smiled.

Ezra looked at the turquoise masked turtle and blushed as he saw her smile at Macey. The turquoise masked turtle looked at Ezra and blushed as she saw him. The female mutant turtle had sea green skin, turquoise mask with a long braid tail, a set of arrows in a quiver on her belt, and a bow on her back. She also has the same height and eye color as the teal mage ninja. Ezra and the mutant turtle made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Brave ocean blue eyes—the exact same color that the sea had carried. Their eyes were sparkled with bravery, courage, and curiosity behind their masks. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their family, their home, their sense of sorcery, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the mutant kunoichi turtle and the mage ninja that held them here now.

"Are you ok, sir?" The turquoise masked turtle asked.

Ezra snapped out of his lovely dovely gaze as she talked to him.

"Uh, yes. Thank you for coming to our rescue." Ezra smiled, sheepishly.

"Anything to save a planet from an alien invasion, right?" The turquoise masked turtle smiled.

"Yeah. Just to save the world." Ezra blushed.

The turquoise masked turtle secretly blushed but the three friends went to the others.

"You're my hero." Ariana smiled as she looked up at Donnie.

Donnie blushed with a chuckle at Ariana.

"Hey, chuckles. We gotta get out of here." Raph spoke up.

"He's right. Let's get out of here." Camilla agreed.

The Turtles, the K-5, April, and Macey made their move to escape out of the giant spherical ship. But they were unaware that Kraang Prime pulled itself out from the wall and started pursuing after them within his gigantic robotic body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Sage started to become vulnerable when her knees collapsed on the ground as she couldn't believe that Lady Shade took his son and raised him as her own child. Lady Shade saw Sage's distraction and took the perfect opportunity to turn the tide of battle. Lady Shade charged forward and performed a jumping knee strike on Sage's chest before launching her upwards as she somersaulted back to the ground. As Lady Shade landed on her feet in a crouching position, she formed a black energized razor-sharp claw on her right hand and sprang up towards Sage to deliver a quick series of slashes from multiple directions before slamming them into the ground.

Sage got up shakily to her hands and knees with massive pain. Lady Shade walked over to the downed Sage with her black energized razor-sharp claw in the air.

"Thank you for showing me your defeat, Shiroibara." Lady Shade said with a triumphant smile. "Now, close your eyes and die."

Sage suddenly jumped from the ground and locked her hard gaze on the black mage mistress as if a new source of strength that helped Sage rid the pain. Lady Shade backed away real quick and then shot out large balls of black energy at Sage. But the white mage mistress avoided all of the energy balls with extraordinary speed. Lady Shade glared hard as she spun around rapidly and shot multiple black energy spheres at the white mage mistress. Sage evaded the energy spheres and moved close to Lady Shade's stunned face. Sage delivered a spinning back kick to jam Lady Shade's stomach with her right foot and violently erupted the gathered white energy magic right through Lady Shade from the stomach to the back.

"Now, you will face cold embrace!" Sage shouted angrily.

Sage sprang into the air with a twisting reverse back flip and launched a giant white energy sphere that hit all over Lady Shade, sending the black mage mistress flying in the air and slammed into the stairs as her crowned mask fell off from her face and hit the ground away from her. Lady Shade used enough strength to sit up and looked back at Sage with a glare, but her furious glare quickly changed into a horror face as Sage constructed a sword out of magical energy. The sword has a slightly dark white with a hint of marron pommel resembling a rosebud embedded in it. The guard and knuckle bow of the sword are white with the guard having an image of a four-petaled maroon flower in the middle. The grip is dark white as the grip, guard, and knuckle bow are inscribed with a twirling thorn design. At the base of the blade, the rain guard is shaped like a white rose with the two outer petals being dark white.

"I'll cleanse your murderous disgrace for my family." Sage declared.

Sage charged forward and swung her sword swiftly with an enraged shout.

"Leave her alone!"

Sage's sword suddenly clashed with another sword. She quickly turned to block the next sword strike and swung her sword a few times, but each strike was deflected until two mage warriors found their swords locked. Sage looked at Kuro with a glare. Kuro glared dangerously at Sage with a growl. But Sage started to perceive Kuro's essence with her magic and saw what the mage ninja's true identity that made her eyes widen in utter shock and surprise.

"Shori?" Sage spoke with a soft gasp.

Kuro's eyes softened with a surprise face, but he shook his head and swung his sword again. Sage moved out of the way and landed few inches away from Kuro, who hurried over to the wounded Lady Shade.

"Mother!" Kuro gasped with a concern face.

"Kuro." Lady Shade spoke weakly. "That woman is Shiroibara Sage."

Sage's eyes widened and stared at the teenage mystic ninja.

"Shori." Sage spoke softy.

"My name is Kuro!" Kage shouted as he turned around to face Sage. "Mother told me you killed my father. And now it's my turn to return the favor."

Kuro charged forward at Sage with his sword while Lady Shade chuckled darkly from the stairs.

Before Kuro could deliver a sword strike, Sage turned around and sprang high on the platform in front of the stain glass window. She turned to stare at her long-lost son with a sad face.

"You dare run away from a fight?" Kuro demanded angrily. "Don't think we're finished here! Next time, I'll let you live long enough to destroy you!"

"I will return for you, my son. I promise." Sage muttered with a quiet sigh.

With that, Sage turned away from the boy and exited the Shadow Clan building through the stain glass window hole.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Technodrome, the Turtles and the K-5 raced their way to escape the giant Kraang ship as quickly as we can. The Kraang droids began attacking them with their laser guns, but Mikey and Talia took the alien droids down together.

"So, how did you get here, Talia?" Mikey asked quietly to Talia. "And what's with the mask?"

"It's a long story, but the mask can disguise my voice; so April, Macey, and your siblings won't recognize me." Talia replied. "Pretty cool, right?"

"Our little secret." Mikey smiled with a wink.

Raph and Camilla took down the next alien droids with their strengths.

"Thanks for the team up, sweetheart. But who are you really?" Raph asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Camilla responded.

The Turtles and the K-5 entered into a hallway as they saw more Kraang and Kraang droids in their direction. Mikey, Talia, Raph, and Camilla easily worked together to take the Kraang and Kraang droids out.

The turquoise masked turtle and teal ninja mage took out a group of Kraangdroids while Macey was holding onto the female turtle's back.

"Look, I know this might be a bad time but can I get to know your name?" Ezra asked.

"Venus De Milo, but you can call me Vee." The turquoise masked turtle introduced.

"I'm Ezra." Ezra smiled.

"Nice name." Vee winked.

Donnie and Ariana were still running from the Kraangdroids.

"The mask looks new. Nothing from the traditional version." Donnie said Ariana in a quiet tone.

"That's because I've invented them." Ariana explained. "It can disguise my voice into something different that way April, Macey, and your siblings won't get suspicious."

"Very clever." Donnie smiled.

"Thanks." Ariana smiled back.

As Raph kicked one Kraang droid down to the ground floor, the cruiser exploded that caused the Technodrome to tip over.

"Leo, I have a question!" Mikey shouted.

"Can it wait?" Leo asked

"Not really." Mikey answered. "Did we beat that big Kraang thingie?"

"And why would he ask that?" Kirana asked Leo with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Mikey, we did." Leo answered.

"Then, why is it following us?" Mikey shouted.

The Turtles and the K-5 stopped running as they turned around to see Kraang Prime approaching behind them. But this time, Kraang Prime was inside his custom built robotic body. His built robotic body was a massive, twenty-five foot mechanical weapon with long tentacle-like arms and a powerful energy weapon mounted at the head. Kraang Prime continued heading toward the Turtles and K-5. The mutant turtles and the mages began running away from him as Kraang Prime started firing neon pink jagged lasers at them.

"Everybody, there's two last escape pods up ahead." Donnie said in alert.

"We can use them to escape our way out of here!" Ariana exclaimed.

The Turtles and the K-5 made their way to the escape pods. But Mikey and Talia got accidentally caught in the jagged lasers as Kraang Prime was going to finish Mikey and Talia off with one laser blast.

Leo drew his katana sword and dashed forward to cut the laser blaster from the robot, leaving Kirana to reach her water whips out to her youngest sister and the orange masked turtle as she pulled them away from Kraang Prime.

"There's nowhere for you to run, mutants and mages!" Kraang Prime hollered.

Mikey, Raph, April, Vee, Macey and Donnie made their way into one escape pod while Talia, Camilla, Ezra, and Ariana made their way into another escape pod. Leo and Kirana stayed out as they looked back at Kraang Prime with glares.

"All of you will die here!" Kraang Prime cried.

Leo and Kirana stared at Kraang Prime. They both knew that they have to stay behind and hold Kraang Prime back, so their team can escape out of the Technodrome alive.

"The most important thing is to complete your mission with the world at stake." Sage's voice spoke in Kirana's mind. "No matter who or what you have to sacrifice."

Kirana and Leo exchanged glances as they nodded their heads and made their final decision.

Kirana used one water whip to seize Mikey's kusarigama and handed over to Leo, who boldly Mikey's kusarigama chain all the way around Kraang Prime to hold him back. Kirana created another water whip and latched both whips to grab Kraang Prime's robotic tentacles with her strength.

"Leo!" Raph cried.

"No! Get out of here now!" Leo shouted.

"Sis, you can't do this!" Camilla shouted.

"Go!" Kirana insisted. "We can't hold it back any longer!"

Kraang Prime continued to fight back against the kusarigama chain and the water whips.

"We gotta go now!" Donnie said.

"He's right! We have to move!" Ariana said.

The escape pods closed and began floating toward the exit. The kusarigama chain snapped and Kraang Prime almost fell toward the escape pods, but Kirana's water whips were able to restrain him.

"Kirana!" Camilla screamed as she stared out of the glass with an astounded face.

The escape pod flew out of the Technodrome and into the water of the ocean until the escaped pod floated to the surface.

"We did it!" Ariana cheered. "We made it out alive!"

Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra saw the Technodrome falling into the water and began sinking down into the murky depths of the ocean.

"No! Kirana!" Talia cried.

"I can't believe she's gone." Ariana gasped in a sad tone.

"Kirana." Camilla sighed. She sat down with a small sulk and tried to fight back the tears.

Ezra already began having tears roll down his face and hugged Camilla for comfort.

"She always has been our leader and I've been nothing but a pain for her position. If I had the chance to start over, I will definitely be more respect and loyal to her." Camilla said, sadly.

"I would definitely love that." A familiar voice spoke.

Camilla and Ezra's tears suddenly stopped as they, Ariana, and Talia recognized that voice. They looked over to the source of that familiar voice and saw a blue mage kunoichi swimming toward the escape pod.

"Kirana!" Ariana and Talia smiled.

Kirana smiled with a chuckle at her younger siblings.

"Kirana, you're so lucky I can't kill you right now!" Camilla shouted with a smile.

Camilla and Ariana helped Kirana out of the water. Kirana climbed into the pod and Ezra was the first one to hug Kirana.

"Kirana! Your ok!" Ezra cried.

"I'm okay, Ezra. I'm not going anywhere." Kirana smiled.

Kirana hugs her younger brother back and the mages got together into a big group hug.

"We won!" Talia cheered.

The K-5 looked around to see other escape pods rising out of the ocean water. Every unharmed citizens that was inside cheered in relief. They can't believe they saved the world from a Kraang invasion with the Turtles. Speaking of the Turtles, the K-5 haven't seen their escape pod. But they knew they will see them again someday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 are celebrating their victory while eating pizza in the living room.

"Who save the world?" Talia asked.

"We save the world!" Camilla, Kirana, Ezra, and Ariana answered.

"Yeah, you know it!" Talia cheered.

"So, Kirana, how did you and that turtle make it out alive anyway?" Camilla asked Kirana.

Kirana's eyes widened slightly as she started remembering what happened earlier.

[Flashback]

Kirana and Leo jumped off the Technodrome and went into the ocean water. Leo opened his eyes and watched Kirana summoning a large water bubble to protect themselves underwater.

"You are full of surprise." Leo said with a smile.

"Well, I am a mage, after all." Kirana smiled back.

"I hope the others were able to escape in time." Leo said.

Kirana closed her eyes and used her aura sense to detect Leo's team and her team.

"Yes, they're safe." Kirana spoke. "I'll let you swim up to them."

"I hope we'll meet again sometime." Leo said.

Kirana leaned over to kiss Leo's cheek, making him blush with wide eyes.

"I'm sure we will." Kirana said with a smile.

[Flashback Ends]

"We jumped out of the Technodrome and swam away after it sank down to the ocean." Kirana answered.

Casey looked to see Sage walking into the dojo with a sad look on her face. He and Norbit followed her and found her staring at her family picture.

"Is everything alright, Sage?" Norbit asked.

"Everything is fine, Norbit." Sage responded.

"We also want to you for saving us from Lady Shade." Casey said.

"It's my pleasure." Sage said calmly. "But I did discover some information from Lady Shade."

"What information?" Kirana asked as she entered into the dojo.

"That all will be revealed for another time, Kirana." Sage replied. She then let out a smile across her face. "You save the world from an alien invasion, so this calls for a celebration."

"You got that right." Talia smiled as she, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra entered inside the dojo. She put her arm over Kirana's shoulder. "Let's get this party started."

Then, the dance party got started.

Phantom was scratching the records with both her hands at the DJ system. Casey moved himself left to right before doing a moonwalk on the ground. Camilla performed hip hop and pop choreography. Talia performed a combination moves of Japanese and Chinese hip hop. Ariana performed graceful and elegant robotic moves with a touch of pop dance movement. Ezra and Norbit did a hip hop move together. Kirana performed a combination moves of Japanese choreography.

The K-5, Norbit, and Casey triumphantly celebrated their victory with a big dance party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the bottom of the ocean, the Technodrome was lying offline on the ocean ground until it slowly began to light up for its return.


End file.
